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

While plenty of rockers have drawn from fantasy lore, few have truly lived the fantasy existence. Admittedly, they could embellish their record jackets with monsters, goblins, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but has any musician ever needed to retrieve a lost mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Has anyone taken the time peering in the back of a tour bus, mending their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and more as they act out their heroic dreams. Starting with medieval-inspired, memorable tunes to breathtaking concerts, costume design, videos and cover artwork, they’re not just a rock act as a complete sensory journey.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” says singer, guitarist, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport drives from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK now. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to put on an outfit. Everything was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the energy was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the band’s second album, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the verge of greater success.

This album was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “It made it a much better project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of accomplishment as a female in music working independently. There have been numerous occasions where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the scope of their stage presentation. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on track for a university studies in art before hesitating at the idea of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “From crafting disguises, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to figure it out on the fly.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“Everyone’s urging me to document it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer learned on her own how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she admittedly delegated her brand-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They took to the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We performed a gig in Detroit and it looked like a medieval event,” remembers Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in robes, sheepskin, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, though, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Each item is constantly breaking and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a bus with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a mythic tale, then compress it into a small space.”

There have been further organizational challenges that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a nightmare, because we don’t have an backup plan of the concert where I lack a sword.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the future. “My goal is to the top – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the self-crafted look, making sure everything is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to keep true to, regardless of we grow into. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a unicorn at all performances. You know how some artists do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”