‘I Want to Ride Out on a Unicorn Every Night’: Swords’n’Sorcery Metal Band Castle Rat

While many rockers have drawn from high fantasy, only a handful have genuinely embodied the mythical existence. Sure, they could adorn their album sleeves with monsters, goblins, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever been forced to retrieve a missing mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Did a performer spent time straining their eyes in the interior of a road transport, repairing their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered such situations and more as they live out their grand tales. From knightly, earworm-heavy songs to breathtaking live shows, outfit creation, visuals and album art, they’re more than a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a costumed concept band,” states singer, guitarist, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK now. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a October show, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. It was all highly handmade, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment always?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (percussionist) – never turned back. The new record, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of classic metal icons uniting to fight their path through a mythical painted realm – a grand composition that sets them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her fellow members. “It made it a much better record,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of pride being a woman in music working independently. There have been multiple instances where after a show and a person will say, ‘The other members write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature 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. Initially, she was on track for a art school education before hesitating at the possibility of heavy loans. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express artistic expression,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, costume design, learning how to edit song visuals … everything is I have no experience with, but it’s fun to learn in the moment.”

As if creating the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she admittedly left her brand-new scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They embraced the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the band. “We played a concert in Detroit and it resembled a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley happily. “All attendees was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

This isn’t to say, however, that life on the road as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Each item is constantly breaking and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a mythic tale, then store it into minimal luggage.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that didn’t affect mythic characters. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because we don’t have an backup plan of the show where I am without a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the what’s next. “I want to go as far as possible – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, making sure everything is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to keep true to, no matter what we achieve. Additionally, I want to make an entrance on a mythical beast at all performances. Remember how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”