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While many rockers have borrowed from high fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the enchanted lifestyle. Sure, they could decorate their album sleeves with ghouls, beasts, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but did a member ever have to recover a lost unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the depths of winter? Has anyone spent time squinting in the rear of a tour bus, fixing their own armor?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face these exact challenges and others as they live out their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, memorable tunes to eye-popping concerts, costume design, visuals and record designs, they’re more than a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a costumed concept band,” explains vocalist, guitarist, sword-carrier and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a full-capacity concert in a German city to one more in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing several shows in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to put on an outfit. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the energy was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have this much fun every time?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a plague doctor (bass player), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, evokes images of famous rock groups collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the verge of bigger achievements.

This album was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her bandmates. “That contributed to a more powerful album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of pride being a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had numerous occasions where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The other members write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

With their growing popularity has increased, so has the scale of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on track for a university studies in art before pulling back at the possibility of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, outfit planning, mastering post-production clips … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn as we go.”

As if building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“People are encouraging me to document it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the vocalist self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she confessedly left her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They loved the fake blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We performed a show in Detroit and it looked like a historical festival,” recalls Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Everything is always failing and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I want things to look, but we tour in a vehicle with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a mythic tale, then compress it into nothing.”

We faced other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played a music event in Portugal and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a worst-case scenario, because there is no an backup plan of the show where I am without a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go as far as possible – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, ensuring each detail is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Plus, I desire to ride out on a magical horse every night. You know how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but on a mythical creature.”