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Although many artists have taken inspiration from high fantasy, rarely any have truly lived the enchanted existence. Certainly, they might decorate their record jackets with creatures, imps, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever needed to recover a missing horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a performer spent time peering in the back of a tour bus, mending their own chainmail?

Embracing the Mythos

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and more as they act out their epic fantasies. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy songs to eye-popping performances, costume design, videos and record designs, they’re not just a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a full-capacity concert in a German city to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK currently. “We played two shows and received an offer on a spooky event, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the energy was electric. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a pestilence physician (bassist), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (percussionist) – continued forward. The new record, the band’s second album, conjures visions of famous rock groups joining forces to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the edge of bigger achievements.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “This helped a much better record,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of accomplishment being a woman in music going it alone. There have been so many times where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The other members write great riffs!’ and I’m like, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the scale of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on path for a university studies in art before balking at the possibility of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to apply artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, attire creation, mastering post-production song visuals … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to figure it out in the moment.”

As if developing the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist learned on her own how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly left her all-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a show in Detroit and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

That’s not to imply, though, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been plain sailing. “Everything is always failing and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a van with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

There have been other logistical problems that would never have plagued mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at a music event in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there’s not an alternative version of the performance where I don’t have a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “I aim to reach all the way – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is preserving the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing each detail is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, regardless of we achieve. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a magical horse every night. Think about how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? That, but with a unicorn.”