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

While many musicians have borrowed from fantasy lore, few have genuinely embodied the fantasy existence. Admittedly, they may embellish their record jackets with ghouls, goblins, manacled maidens and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever been forced to recover a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Has a guitarist spent time straining their eyes in the interior of a road transport, fixing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with both these scenarios and additional ones as they live out their epic fantasies. Starting with knightly, catchy anthems to stunning live shows, costume design, visuals and record designs, they’re not just a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” states singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they are playing multiple performances in the UK currently. “We played two shows and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. Everything was super-DIY, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was incredible. It occurred to me, ‘How about if we could have this much fun every time?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the band – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a pestilence physician (bassist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands uniting to struggle onward through a heroic art landscape – a heroic opus that sets them on the edge of greater success.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “This helped a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a specific level of satisfaction as a female in music going it alone. There’ve been multiple instances where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘The other members create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Listen – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on course for a university studies in art before hesitating at the possibility of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate creativity,” she says. “From making masks, attire creation, figuring out video editing music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn on the fly.”

Even though developing the band’s intricate lore (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she confessedly left her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They embraced the fake blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the musicians. “We had a gig in Detroit and it seemed like a historical festival,” recalls Riley with affection. “Everyone was in robes, animal hides, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, however, that touring existence as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “Each item is always failing and ends up repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then store it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that would never have plagued mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because we don’t have an different option of the performance where I lack a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the handmade style, ensuring everything is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, no matter what we achieve. Oh, and I wish to ride out on a mythical beast at all performances. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”