While many artists have drawn from fantasy lore, only a handful have fully embraced the enchanted existence. Sure, they might adorn their album covers with creatures, goblins, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has any musician ever been forced to find a misplaced mythical horn from a snowy field in the midst of winter? Has anyone taken the time squinting in the rear of a tour bus, fixing their own armor?
Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face these exact challenges and more as they act out their grand tales. From knightly, catchy anthems to stunning performances, outfit creation, videos and album art, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a full immersive experience.
“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport drives from a packed show in Cologne to one more in another town – they have multiple performances 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. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the energy was electric. I thought, ‘What if we could have so much excitement always?’”
From that point on, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (bass player), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (percussionist) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the band’s second album, brings to mind of classic metal icons collaborating to battle their way through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that places them on the verge of bigger achievements.
The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “It made it a much better project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of satisfaction as a woman in music going it alone. There’ve been so many times where after a show and some guy will say, ‘The other members compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”
As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the scope of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. Initially, she was on path for a art school education before balking at the possibility of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to apply artistic expression,” she says. “Be it making masks, costume design, figuring out video editing clips … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to figure it out as we go.”
As if developing the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments were insufficient, the singer taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she admittedly delegated her brand-new scalemail look to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.
What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the group. “We performed a concert in Detroit and it resembled a medieval event,” recalls Riley happily. “Everyone was in cloaks, sheepskin, metal wear.”
However, this doesn’t mean, however, that life on the road as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Everything is always failing and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a van with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a grand epic, then pack it down into minimal luggage.”
We’ve encountered additional practical issues that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my sword in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because we don’t have an alternative version of the show where I don’t have a blade.”
Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the future. “I want to go as far as possible – let’s do huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing everything is handmade. This is a feature I want to keep true to, regardless of we scale to. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a mythical beast at all performances. Think about how some artists use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”
Elara is a passionate writer and photographer who shares insights on creativity and mindful living through engaging storytelling.
