‘Every Night, I Dream of Riding a Unicorn’: Swords’n’Sorcery Metal Band Castle Rat

Although numerous artists have taken inspiration from epic fantasy, few have truly lived the mythical way of life. Admittedly, they might decorate their album sleeves with creatures, goblins, chained damsels and strong fighters, but did a member ever been forced to recover a lost mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a guitarist taken the time squinting in the back of a road transport, repairing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and additional ones as they embody their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, catchy songs to breathtaking live shows, outfit creation, videos and album art, they’re not just a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” explains vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and creative overlord 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 have multiple performances in the UK currently. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. Everything was super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment always?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a pestilence physician (bass player), proud bloodsucker (six-string player) and mysterious druid (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of classic metal icons uniting to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a grand composition that positions them on the edge of greater success.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “This helped a much better project,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – There was a sense of a specific level of accomplishment being a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has increased, so has the scale of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on course 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 demonstrate artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, costume design, learning how to edit music videos … it’s all stuff I have no experience with, but it’s exciting to discover in the moment.”

Even though building the group’s detailed mythology (“Everyone’s urging me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she admittedly left her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They took to the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a gig in the Motor City and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” recalls Riley happily. “Everyone was in robes, wool garments, armor.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that touring existence as fantasy adventurers has been plain sailing. “Everything is frequently damaged and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a bus with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a mythic tale, then store it into minimal luggage.”

We faced additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my blade in it – got lost,” says Riley. “That was a nightmare, because there’s not an alternative version of the show where I am without a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

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 only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the self-crafted look, guaranteeing each detail is custom-made. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, no matter what we scale to. Oh, and I wish to ride out on a mythical beast every night. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but using a unicorn.”