🔗 Share this article

While plenty of rockers have borrowed from high fantasy, only a handful have truly lived the mythical lifestyle. Sure, they might adorn their album covers with monsters, beasts, captive women and strong fighters, but has an artist ever have to find a lost mythical horn from a snowy field in the midst of winter? Did a guitarist devoted hours straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, repairing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face these exact challenges and more as they live out their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, memorable tunes to breathtaking live shows, costume design, videos and cover artwork, they’re not so much a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” explains singer, guitarist, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to another in another town – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK currently. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. Everything was completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the energy was electric. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” joined by a pestilence physician (bassist), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (percussionist) – never turned back. The new record, the follow-up record, evokes images of classic metal icons collaborating to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the edge of far grander things.

This album was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her bandmates. “That contributed to a lot stronger project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of accomplishment as a female in music working independently. There’ve been multiple instances where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has expanded, so has the scope of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. Initially, she was on track for a art school education before pulling back at the possibility of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to apply creativity,” she says. “Be it making masks, costume design, mastering post-production music videos … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to figure it out as we go.”

Even though building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to document it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to create armor – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her completely original scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They loved the stage blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the musicians. “We had a gig in Detroit and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” remembers Riley happily. “Everyone was in cloaks, wool garments, armor.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “All our gear is constantly breaking and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Additionally I get countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a van with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a mythic tale, then pack it down into a small space.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there’s not an alternative version of the show where I lack a weapon.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the days to come. “I want to go as far as possible – we should play large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the handmade style, making sure each detail is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to remain faithful to, whatever we scale to. Oh, and I wish to ride out on a magical horse each show. You know how legends do the motorcycle thing? That, but on a mythical creature.”