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While many rockers have taken inspiration from epic fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the enchanted lifestyle. Certainly, they could embellish their album sleeves with creatures, beasts, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever needed to recover a missing horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the depths of winter? Has a performer taken the time straining their eyes in the interior of a tour bus, repairing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face both these scenarios and more as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy tunes to stunning performances, costume design, videos and record designs, they’re more than a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitarist, blade-handler and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to another in another town – they have several shows in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and received an offer on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the energy was electric. I realized, ‘How about if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (percussionist) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the follow-up record, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that places them on the verge of greater success.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “It made it a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a specific level of satisfaction as a woman in music going it alone. I’ve had multiple instances where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has increased, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on course for a fine art degree before hesitating at the prospect of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to discover on the fly.”

Even though building the band’s intricate lore (“People are encouraging me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, indicating her head) and stitching garments were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to create armor – no mean feat, though she admittedly delegated her brand-new scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

As for audiences? They took to the fake blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the musicians. “We performed a gig in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” remembers Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, wool garments, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, however, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “All our gear is always failing and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a bus with only so much space. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a grand epic, then pack it down into nothing.”

There have been further organizational challenges that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there is no an alternative version of the concert where I am without a blade.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the what’s next. “My goal is to the top – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The main aspect that’s deeply meaningful to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, guaranteeing everything is custom-made. That’s an element I want to keep true to, regardless of we achieve. Plus, I want to ride out on a mythical beast every night. You know how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? That, but on a mythical creature.”