Riley Pinkerton
Glam goddess with a heart of pure Rock & Roll, Riley is not your average female musician.
What is your first memory of music? Was there a particular song that inspired you to become a musician/singer?
That’s a tough memory to roll back to with accuracy... But I do have a particularly strong memory that stands out to me from about half a decade into this world.
Riding in the car with Dad, I heard the breakdown in Whole Lotta Love by Zeppelin for the first time. My overactive imagination responded by conjuring up this experience of being trapped in the depths of a giant, cold, damp, reverberant cave. I was surrounded by animated skeletons all cackling and rattling along in the dark, bones clicking against each other and bouncing off the sides of the cave. They really seemed like they were having a good time and so, naturally, I begged my dad to play the song over and over.
Growing up I was also very fond of The Beatles I’ll Follow The Sun. I sang along to that one a lot.
What advice would you give female musicians just starting out?
Find your creative voice and use it. Use it only for yourself and your ideas and your expression. Use your voice for others if that’s what you love to do but do not create in order to please others. People will say shit and give you “advice” (nothing wrong with seeking advice when you want it, just take the unwarranted stuff with a grain of salt) but if you are honest in your art and your craft and create from what’s sitting right there in your core, then nothing can shake you. Keep your head down and keep working; that will automatically help filter out a lot of the bullshit, but don’t forget to come up for air and ask questions or ask for help if you need it. Asking someone to explain something to you doesn’t make you “dumb” or “helpless.”
Grow from there and push yourself constantly, but don’t compare yourself to whoever the hell is doing whatever out in wherever. Allow yourself to be inspired by anything that makes you feel a twinge of jealousy. There’s so much talent in the world; you can really drive yourself nuts if you try and run yourself up against all of it instead of letting it roll through you to stoke the fire in your belly and your brain.
Don’t waste your time on anything that you don’t have a passion for; we all have our strengths—go with yours. Find something that speaks to you. It’s music—it’s your art—so focus your energy on how best to serve your vision... well, your sonic vision... you get me.
Can you share with us some of the challenges you’ve faced as a female in music & performance?
There have been quite a few instances where people, upon meeting me as a young woman in this industry, default to not taking me seriously. Double down on that with being baby faced and a bit reserved (often perceived as shy or timid) and you have a recipe for all sorts of condescension. I’ve found it best in those situations not to go out of my way to prove anything. I’m fortunate to have wound up surrounded by a lot of extremely talented and supportive musicians and that’s all the validation I need. It’s an added bonus to know that they have my back and aren’t afraid to pipe up in those scenarios.
There are the little things... like the stranger who spots me walking down the street with a gig bag on my back and feels the need to ask me if I “even know how to play that thing...” and then there’s every dude who’s ever decided to turn a mutual-appreciation-of-music-conversation into some sort of chest-beating music trivia pissing-match.
Who/what are your greatest inspirations?
I’ve gone through a lot of different phases worshipping a lot of different artists and I’m so grateful to all of them for how their music has inspired and shaped me. Thanks to Dad, while I was growing up, the Beatles were and always will be at the foundation of it all.
Mom raised me on “Court And Spark” by Joni Mitchell and Squirrel Nut Zippers cassettes. As a teenager I had a Jeff Buckley and a Neutral Milk Hotel phase and moved into a Tom Waits and a Randy Newman (yeah, that’s right, the Toy Story guy) phase. I have my late-blooming perpetual teen angst and my never ending Nirvana phase. Nick Cave and his lyricism is mind blowing and massively inspiring.
I obsessed over The Pretenders’ first album because hearing Chrissie Hynde was the first time I had identified with another artist vocally. I’ll mention PJ Harvey while I’m here because she’s badass. I hit a Primus phase which is still very much alive; their music brings me a lot of joy. And finally, perhaps too obviously, Black Sabbath, which really changed my world in a way that honestly took me years to fully digest... I feel like I might’ve forgotten some, but I’ll leave it here for now.
When do you feel your most creative?
The more emotionally tumultuous things are and the more over-caffeinated I am—ha! I don’t really recommend seeking out or existing in either of those states of being for any extended period of time.
What was your first show like? How did you prepare yourself?
I feel like I’ve had a lot of “first shows” in different projects and different levels of experience within different scenes. I’m not sure exactly which I could really call my “first show.” I’ve been fortunate enough to have never been plagued too heavily with stage fright, but there is a certain amount of energy buzzing when you’re stepping out there for the first time. Leading up to any “first” I’ve always rehearsed like crazy; trying to get the songs to feel like second nature and then throwing caution to the wind come showtime.
What helps you get focused and into the creative space you need before going on stage or recording? Do you have any routines?
I’m a big advocate for living life as normally as possible leading up to a show. There’s enough going on that I try not to muddy the waters with too much of “I need to do this” or “I can’t do that” the day of a show. One practice I’ve found worth sticking with is not using up my free drink tickets prior to getting onstage... before I go on I’ll grab a whiskey on the rocks and a cup of water and dip into it onstage here and there. I prefer to be mentally present while performing and save the celebratory partying for afterwards.
When making new music how do you stay focused + creative? Do you enjoy collaborating with others?
When I’m working on a new song I tend to work on it obsessively until I get it to some state of completion. Sometimes that means editing and rewriting lyrics over and over on brown paper bags at work
Creativity for me tends to have an ebb and flow to it. Sometimes I’m in listening mode and don’t create anything new for a long time and I’ve learned that that is okay, and that it doesn’t mean “Dear god I’ve dried up! That’s it! I’m never going to be able to write another song again!”
That “import mode” or downtime is important for finding new inspiration without forcing it, as well as fine tuning details of existing songs and taking a step back to look at the bigger picture of the band and what we’re doing.
Other times I’m in export mode and I can’t stand to listen to any music at all... those times of genuine expression are sacred and I don’t want anything or anyone touching it or hearing it or influencing it before it’s done.
And that brings me to answering your second question: No, ha! I have never been fond of collaboration, at least from a songwriting standpoint. Of course there is collaboration within the band when we’re working up parts and it’s good to shake the song out a bit while everyone has their hands on it. We’ll move parts around or trim the fat a bit... but leading up to that I’m in charge of the structure/chords, lyrics, melody, and harmonies. This all being said, I’m trying to be a bit less precious about my songs. If I find the right fit maybe I’ll get to a place where I can collaborate with another artist.
What is on your current playlist?
Lately it’s been a lot of High On Fire’s “Electric Messiah” and Mercyful Fate’s “Melissa”. I tend to get hung up on whole albums at a time and just listen to them over and over. I’m just wrapping up an extended phase of Nirvana’s “Bleach,” Electric Wizard’s “Dopethrone,” and Melvins’ “Houdini.”
What musician/artist do you dream of collaborating with?
I certainly would not turn down a duet with Ozzy Osbourne.
Your onstage style is a fantastical assortment of creature imagery with black & gold.
What/who inspires your looks?
In terms of inspiration for my general aesthetic, Mom influenced my appreciation for vintage styling sensibilities; she worshipped Marilyn Monroe’s classic bombshell legacy and handed me massive books on makeup by Kevyn Aucoin and taught me that you can never go wrong wearing all black.
For a while I aimed to push myself into flashier, more glam inspired onstage looks.
After moving to NYC, I think I spent a solid year of my life looking up photos of Debbie Harry every single day and wound up in a constant state of “What Would Debbie Wear?” when shopping for new show clothes. I honestly think it might’ve gotten to a place that was slightly unhealthy, haha...
I’ve taken a step back from all that and as the music has evolved (and having stepped into a new band/project entirely with Castle Rat)
I feel I started to hit my own stride. However, everything really took shape at our Halloween show at Saint Vitus — I had planned out and partially designed costumes for myself and the band, as well as creating a complete Rat Reaper costume from scratch out of a cardboard box, some papier-mâché, acrylic paint, a tablecloth and a hockey stick (photographic evidence on our Instagram...)
All the theatrics and the costumes were a hit and as a band we decided right then and there that the costumes felt like the right fit, and that we’d be moving forward as these sort of fantasy characters we had developed. Keep an eye out for myself as The Rat Queen, Henry Black on guitar as The Count, David Marchione on bass as Dr. Mouse, and CJ Young on drums as Sarge.
Image credits: Savannah Lauren
Find Riley & Castle Rat: https://castleratband.bandcamp.com/album/dungeon-demos