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

While plenty of musicians have borrowed from fantasy lore, only a handful have genuinely embodied the enchanted way of life. Certainly, they could embellish their album covers with creatures, beasts, captive women and muscular warriors, but did a member ever have to recover a misplaced unicorn horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a performer devoted hours straining their eyes in the rear of a tour bus, fixing their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and others as they act out their epic fantasies. Starting with knightly, memorable tunes to breathtaking live shows, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a costumed concept band,” says singer, guitarist, blade-handler and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport drives from a full-capacity concert in a German city to another in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK this week. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have so much excitement always?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – continued forward. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of famous rock groups joining forces to battle their way through a heroic art landscape – a heroic opus that positions them on the brink of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “That contributed to a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of pride being a woman in music working independently. There’ve been so many times where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘Those guys write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has expanded, so has the scale of their production design. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on track for a fine art degree before pulling back at the idea of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express artistry,” she says. “From crafting disguises, outfit planning, figuring out video editing clips … these are all things I am unfamiliar with, but it’s enjoyable to discover on the fly.”

Even though building the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the singer self-educated how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she admittedly left her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and handmade props with as much gusto as the band. “We performed a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a medieval event,” remembers Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, animal hides, armor.”

This isn’t to say, though, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “All our gear is constantly breaking and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a grand epic, then pack it down into nothing.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because there is no an alternative version of the show where I am without a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the what’s next. “I want to go all the way – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is keeping the handmade style, ensuring all elements is custom-made. It’s a component I want to stay authentic to, no matter what we grow into. Additionally, I wish to appear on a magical horse every night. Think about how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”