‘Every Night, I Dream of Riding a Unicorn’: Medieval Metal Group Castle Rat

While many musicians have borrowed from epic fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the enchanted existence. Admittedly, they may decorate their album covers with ghouls, beasts, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever have to find a missing mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Has a performer taken the time straining their eyes in the back of a road transport, mending their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have had to face both these scenarios and more as they embody their epic fantasies. Starting with medieval-inspired, memorable tunes to stunning performances, outfit creation, videos and cover artwork, they’re not so much a rock act as a complete sensory journey.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a packed show in Cologne to another in another town – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK currently. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. It was all highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was electric. I thought, ‘How about if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

Since then, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” joined by a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), aristocratic undead (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, brings to mind of classic metal icons collaborating to battle their way through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that positions them on the verge of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her fellow members. “This helped a more powerful project,” she says of the team effort. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a specific level of accomplishment as a woman in music doing everything solo. There’ve been multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The other members create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the scale of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. Initially, she was on track for a art school education before balking at the prospect of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “From crafting disguises, costume design, figuring out video editing song visuals … these are all things I have no experience with, but it’s exciting to discover in the moment.”

Even though building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing didn’t suffice, the vocalist learned on her own how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her brand-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They took to the theatrical gore, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it looked like a historical festival,” remembers Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in robes, animal hides, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Each item is frequently damaged and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a van with limited room. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then store it into nothing.”

We faced further organizational challenges that didn’t affect mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a music event in Portugal and my luggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a worst-case scenario, because there is no an alternative version of the performance where I lack a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “My goal is as far as possible – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, making sure all elements is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to keep true to, regardless of we scale to. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a magical horse at all performances. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”