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

Although plenty of rockers have borrowed from epic fantasy, only a handful have fully embraced the fantasy lifestyle. Certainly, they might decorate their album covers with creatures, beasts, captive women and strong fighters, but has any musician ever have to retrieve a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Did anyone taken the time squinting in the back of a traveling vehicle, repairing their own chainmail?

Embracing the Mythos

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and more as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with heraldic, catchy anthems to eye-popping concerts, attire styling, videos and record designs, they’re not so much a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitar player, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they’re also doing several shows in the UK currently. “We played two shows and got booked on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. Everything was highly handmade, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was electric. I thought, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” joined by a plague doctor (bassist), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, evokes images of legendary heavy bands uniting to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the edge of greater success.

The Bestiary was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “It made it a more powerful album,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a particular degree of pride as a female in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and some guy will say, ‘Those guys compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on course for a fine art degree before pulling back at the possibility of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, figuring out video editing clips … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out on the fly.”

Even though building the band’s intricate lore (“People are encouraging me to write it down because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she admittedly left her all-new scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They embraced the fake blood, foam swords and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We played a show in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley with affection. “Everyone was in capes, animal hides, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, though, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Everything is constantly breaking and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I get countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we tour in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into minimal luggage.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there is no an alternative version of the show where I don’t have a weapon.”

Goals Ahead

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is eager about the what’s next. “I aim to reach all the way – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s truly essential to me is keeping the self-crafted look, ensuring each detail is custom-made. That’s an element I want to keep true to, whatever we grow into. Additionally, I wish to ride out on a magical horse each show. Think about how legends do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but using a unicorn.”