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Although many artists have taken inspiration from high fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the enchanted existence. Certainly, they may adorn their album covers with creatures, beasts, chained damsels and strong fighters, but did a member ever have to find a lost mythical horn from a snowy field in the midst of winter? Did anyone devoted hours peering in the rear of a tour bus, repairing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have dealt with both these scenarios and more as they act out their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy tunes to eye-popping concerts, outfit creation, music videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a costumed concept band,” states vocalist, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a packed show in Cologne to one more in another town – they’re also doing several shows in the UK this week. “We played two shows and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was electric. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a medic from history (bassist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – continued forward. The new record, the follow-up record, brings to mind of legendary heavy bands collaborating to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the edge of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her bandmates. “That contributed to a much better album,” she says of the group work. “I struggled at first – I often experienced a particular degree of accomplishment as a female in music going it alone. There’ve been numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the scope of their production design. “My philosophy is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on path for a fine art degree before pulling back at the prospect of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit song visuals … everything is I have no experience with, but it’s enjoyable to learn in the moment.”

Even though developing the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the vocalist self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she admittedly left her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the group. “We performed a gig in Detroit and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, wool garments, armor.”

However, this doesn’t mean, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been plain sailing. “Everything is always failing and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to make it feel like a mythic tale, then pack it down into nothing.”

We’ve encountered other logistical problems that didn’t affect mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there is no an different option of the concert where I am without a blade.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “I want to go all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the handmade style, guaranteeing each detail is handmade. This is a feature I want to keep true to, whatever we scale to. Plus, I wish to make an entrance on a mythical beast every night. Remember how some artists use vehicles in concerts? Exactly that, but using a unicorn.”