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

Although plenty of rockers have drawn from fantasy lore, few have genuinely embodied the mythical existence. Sure, they may decorate their album sleeves with ghouls, goblins, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever have to recover a misplaced unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a guitarist spent time peering in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered such situations and additional ones as they embody their grand tales. From heraldic, catchy anthems to eye-popping live shows, costume design, music videos and album art, they’re not just a metal band as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” states vocalist, guitarist, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a packed show in a German city to a second one in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK now. “Initially, we performed twice and were scheduled on a spooky event, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. It was all super-DIY, but we had so much fun and the energy was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” joined by a plague doctor (bassist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the follow-up record, evokes images of famous rock groups joining forces to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that places them on the edge of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “That contributed to a much better project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a specific level of accomplishment as a woman in music working independently. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘Those guys compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As their fame has increased, so has the scale of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. Initially, she was on path for a fine art degree before balking at the possibility of so much debt. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistic expression,” she says. “Be it making masks, outfit planning, mastering post-production clips … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to discover as we go.”

Even though developing the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes didn’t suffice, the singer self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They took to the theatrical gore, soft weapons and handmade props with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it resembled a medieval event,” remembers Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, animal hides, armor.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Everything is frequently damaged and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I get endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a grand epic, then store it into a small space.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that didn’t affect mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because we don’t have an alternative version of the performance where I don’t have a blade.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I aim to reach all the way – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the self-crafted look, guaranteeing everything is crafted by us. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we scale to. Plus, I wish to make an entrance on a magical horse each show. You know how some artists use vehicles in concerts? That, but using a unicorn.”