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Although plenty of musicians have taken inspiration from high fantasy, few have genuinely embodied the fantasy lifestyle. Admittedly, they could adorn their album sleeves with ghouls, goblins, captive women and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever been forced to recover a misplaced unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Did a guitarist devoted hours squinting in the interior of a road transport, fixing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and additional ones as they live out their heroic dreams. From knightly, memorable anthems to stunning live shows, outfit creation, music videos and cover artwork, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” states singer, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK now. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the atmosphere was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), proud bloodsucker (six-string player) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of classic metal icons collaborating to fight their path through a mythical painted realm – a grand composition that sets them on the verge of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her fellow members. “It made it a lot stronger album,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of pride being a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had so many times where after a show and some guy will say, ‘Those guys write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on path for a fine art degree before hesitating at the idea of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “From crafting disguises, outfit planning, figuring out video editing song visuals … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to figure it out as we go.”

Even though building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and stitching garments wasn’t enough, the singer self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she admittedly left her brand-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They took to the stage blood, soft weapons and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the group. “We played a concert in the Motor City and it resembled a medieval event,” reminisces Riley fondly. “All attendees was in robes, animal hides, armor.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been smooth. “Everything is always failing and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a bus with limited room. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a mythic tale, then pack it down into nothing.”

We faced additional practical issues that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because we don’t have an different option of the show where I am without a sword.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the what’s next. “My goal is to the top – let’s do huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the handmade style, guaranteeing everything is handmade. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we scale to. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a unicorn each show. You know how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but with a unicorn.”