“I am your Rat Queen,” declares Riley Pinkerton, vocalist with Castle Rat. Standing on stage decked out in chainmail and battling a sinister figure in black robes, wielding a wicked-looking scythe, you’d be mad to argue with her.
Off stage, the singer is much more laid back. Cracking jokes with dry, warm wit, she admits that she was inspired – in part, at least – by fellow New Yorkers Kiss. “I realised building a larger-than-life persona on stage makes people want to buy into that fantasy,” she says. “We’re definitely pupils of their philosophy that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.
