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While plenty of musicians have borrowed from epic fantasy, few have fully embraced the mythical existence. Certainly, they may decorate their album sleeves with monsters, imps, captive women and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever been forced to recover a lost mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Did anyone taken the time straining their eyes in the interior of a traveling vehicle, mending their own armor?

Embracing the Mythos

Established in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and additional ones as they act out their grand tales. From heraldic, earworm-heavy songs to eye-popping live shows, attire styling, videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to one more in another town – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK currently. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a spooky event, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a plague doctor (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of legendary heavy bands joining forces to battle their way through a heroic art landscape – a heroic opus that places them on the brink of greater success.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “This helped a much better album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a particular degree of accomplishment as a female in music doing everything solo. There’ve been so many times where after a show and some guy will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on path for a art school education before balking at the possibility of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistic expression,” she says. “From making masks, attire creation, learning how to edit clips … these are all things I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to learn on the fly.”

As if building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the singer self-educated how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she admittedly entrusted her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a New York-based specialist. “It’s as if actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They took to the theatrical gore, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the band. “We played a show in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley happily. “Everyone was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

This isn’t to say, however, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Each item is frequently damaged and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we tour in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a mythic tale, then pack it down into a small space.”

We faced further organizational challenges that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my sword in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there is no an backup plan of the performance where I don’t have a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is enthusiastic about the what’s next. “My goal is as far as possible – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, ensuring each detail is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, no matter what we grow into. Plus, I desire to ride out on a mythical beast each show. Think about how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but using a unicorn.”