‘My Fantasy Is to Ride a Unicorn Nightly’: Medieval Heavy Metal Group Castle Rat

Although many musicians have borrowed from high fantasy, few have truly lived the fantasy lifestyle. Certainly, they could adorn their album covers with monsters, imps, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever been forced to retrieve a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Did a guitarist taken the time straining their eyes in the interior of a tour bus, fixing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have encountered such situations and others as they live out their epic fantasies. Starting with heraldic, memorable songs to breathtaking concerts, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re not just a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” explains vocalist, guitar player, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to another in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK this week. “We played two shows and were scheduled on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the energy was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

Development of Castle Rat

From that point on, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a pestilence physician (bass player), aristocratic undead (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a grand composition that sets them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her bandmates. “It made it a lot stronger album,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a certain amount of pride as a woman in music doing everything solo. There have been numerous occasions where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on path for a art school education before pulling back at the possibility of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to express artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, costume design, learning how to edit music videos … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to learn in the moment.”

Even though building the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the vocalist taught herself how to create armor – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

As for audiences? They embraced the stage blood, toy blades and handmade props with similar excitement as the band. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in robes, wool garments, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, though, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “All our gear is always failing and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I get countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into nothing.”

We faced other logistical problems that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “It was a worst-case scenario, because there is no an alternative version of the show where I don’t have a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “My goal is to the top – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the self-crafted look, ensuring all elements is handmade. That’s an element I want to stay authentic to, whatever we grow into. Oh, and I desire to appear on a magical horse every night. Think about how some artists do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”