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

Although plenty of rockers have drawn from high fantasy, only a handful have fully embraced the enchanted way of life. Sure, they might adorn their album sleeves with ghouls, goblins, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but has an artist ever needed to retrieve a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a performer spent time peering in the rear of a road transport, mending their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and additional ones as they act out their heroic dreams. Starting with heraldic, catchy tunes to stunning live shows, attire styling, visuals and cover artwork, they’re not so much a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to a second one in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK this week. “We played two shows 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 an amazing time and the atmosphere was unforgettable. I thought, ‘How about if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a pestilence physician (bassist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, conjures visions of famous rock groups joining forces to battle their way through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a grand composition that positions them on the verge of greater success.

This album was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her collaborators. “It made it a much better project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a specific level of accomplishment being a woman in music doing everything solo. There have been so many times where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I respond, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has grown, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on course for a university studies in art before pulling back at the prospect of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate creativity,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, costume design, mastering post-production clips … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to figure it out as we go.”

Even though building the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to document it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and stitching garments wasn’t enough, the vocalist learned on her own how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They took to the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the musicians. “We played a show in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley happily. “All attendees was in robes, animal hides, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, however, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “Everything is frequently damaged and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour in a bus with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

We’ve encountered other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “There was an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there is no an backup plan of the show where I lack a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the what’s next. “I aim to reach all the way – we should play large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, guaranteeing all elements is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, no matter what we achieve. Plus, I desire to make an entrance on a unicorn each show. Think about how legends use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”