‘My Fantasy Is to Ride a Unicorn Nightly’: Swords’n’Sorcery Metal Group Castle Rat

Although numerous musicians have drawn from epic fantasy, few have truly lived the enchanted way of life. Certainly, they could adorn their album covers with ghouls, imps, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever been forced to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Has a guitarist taken the time squinting in the rear of a road transport, repairing their own armor?

Embracing the Mythos

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and more as they live out their grand tales. From knightly, catchy songs to breathtaking concerts, costume design, videos and album art, they’re not so much a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” states vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport drives from a packed show in a German city to a second one in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK currently. “We played two shows and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was incredible. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” joined by a plague doctor (bass player), aristocratic undead (six-string player) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – never turned back. The new record, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of classic metal icons collaborating to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a heroic opus that places them on the brink of far grander things.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “It made it a lot stronger album,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a specific level of accomplishment as a female in music doing everything solo. There have been numerous occasions where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has increased, so has the scale of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on path for a art school education before balking at the idea of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to figure it out as we go.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the singer taught herself how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she confessedly left her brand-new scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

What about the crowd? They embraced the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a concert in the Motor City and it looked like a historical festival,” recalls Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, animal hides, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Everything is always failing and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I get countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a van with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then store it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played a music event in the European country and my baggage – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there is no an different option of the show where I am without a sword.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the what’s next. “My goal is to the top – we should play large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, making sure each detail is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we achieve. Oh, and I wish to appear on a mythical beast each show. Remember how legends use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”