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While numerous artists have drawn from high fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the mythical way of life. Certainly, they may decorate their album covers with monsters, imps, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever been forced to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Did a performer spent time squinting in the rear of a road transport, fixing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and more as they act out their grand tales. Starting with knightly, earworm-heavy anthems to breathtaking live shows, outfit creation, visuals and cover artwork, they’re not just a metal band as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitarist, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they have multiple performances in the UK this week. “Initially, we performed twice and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to wear a costume. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was electric. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a medic from history (bassist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (percussionist) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of legendary heavy bands collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a grand composition that sets them on the brink of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her bandmates. “This helped a more powerful project,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a certain amount of accomplishment as a female in music going it alone. There’ve been numerous occasions where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘Those guys compose cool melodies!’ and I’m like, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As their fame has expanded, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. Initially, she was on course for a fine art degree before hesitating at the prospect of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, costume design, mastering post-production clips … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to discover in the moment.”

Even though developing the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to document it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer self-educated how to create armor – a difficult task, though she admittedly left her completely original scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the musicians. “We had a concert in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” recalls Riley happily. “All attendees was in robes, wool garments, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, however, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been plain sailing. “All our gear is constantly breaking and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I get endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we tour in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into nothing.”

There have been other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at a music event in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a nightmare, because we don’t have an alternative version of the concert where I lack a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go all the way – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing all elements is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Additionally, I want to appear on a magical horse every night. Think about how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? That, but on a mythical creature.”