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Although numerous rockers have borrowed from epic fantasy, only a handful have genuinely embodied the fantasy way of life. Certainly, they could embellish their album covers with ghouls, goblins, captive women and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever needed to find a missing horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a performer devoted hours squinting in the rear of a road transport, fixing their own metal mesh?

Embracing the Mythos

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered such situations and more as they embody their heroic dreams. Starting with knightly, memorable anthems to stunning concerts, outfit creation, visuals and cover artwork, they’re not so much a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” states singer, guitar player, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they have several shows in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. It was all super-DIY, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was electric. I realized, ‘How about if we could have this much fun every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a pestilence physician (bassist), aristocratic undead (guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the band’s second album, evokes images of famous rock groups joining forces to struggle onward through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the edge of greater success.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “That contributed to a lot stronger record,” she says of the team effort. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of satisfaction as a woman in music going it alone. I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

With their growing popularity has increased, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on track for a fine art degree before hesitating at the idea of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express creativity,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit song visuals … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to discover as we go.”

As if developing the ensemble’s complex backstory (“People are encouraging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer self-educated how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly left her brand-new scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the group. “We had a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a historical festival,” remembers Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, wool garments, armor.”

However, this doesn’t mean, however, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been smooth. “Each item is constantly breaking and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then store it into a small space.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there’s not an different option of the show where I lack a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the days to come. “My goal is all the way – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is maintaining the handmade style, making sure everything is handmade. This is a feature I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Additionally, I want to ride out on a mythical beast every night. Think about how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”