Interview With Maggie "The Siren" Carlton of Illusions of Grandeur
- Samuel Stevens
- Nov 8
- 3 min read
How would you describe your music to any person who may have never heard it before?
Maggie: Illusions of Grandeur’s music could be described as a mix of metalcore, industrial, and power metal, as if Korn, In This Moment, Avatar, and Nine Inch Nails had a child.
What's the significance of your musical moniker?
Maggie: Maggie “The Siren” Carlton. The Siren is my stage persona and the main character in our story “The Siren Saga,” told through our albums and live performances.
What's the significance of your band's band? Maggie: The name originated from a time when Maggie “The Siren” was seeking out other musicians to form a band. A lot of the ads said, “No Illusions of Grandeur here,” meaning they just wanted to play music. I thought, “Why no Illusions of Grandeur?” Life is short, go for what you dream and want!
What are your musical influences? Maggie: IOG’s influences range from: In This Moment, KORN, Altar Bridge, Evanescence and Avatar to Led Zeppelin and The Who. These bands all influenced us in different way, but mainly as story tells and how they craft songs that carry emotion to the listeners.
If given the chance, what musician(s) would you like to collaborate with? Rather, this is to either write a song or be featured on a track.
Maggie: Well, that would for sure be Avatar, Korn, and In This Moment.
What's the new single about?
Maggie: Our new single “MIDNIGHT25,” it’s for sure an exception in our discography. Lyrically, while the idea for the song stems from and was inspired and written for Netflix’s show Wednesday, there is a deeper meaning behind it. Humans are the true monsters, and while we have seen many portrayals of “monsters” in our culture, people are the truly scarier than the creatures of our stories.
It’s a song that would not normally exist in the Illusions of Grandeur writing style. So, while in our writing process for our last record, “The Siren (2022).” While CM was in our recording studio, just warming up, I was walking through, working on some lyrics, just a basic writing process that we have. CM began playing a “riff.” I stopped CM dead in his tracks and said, “Play that again.” It was just a warm-up, not actually in our normal tuning of A, but this time in B. It sparked Maggie to start to write and arrange, and in about an hour, have the bed track for the song “Midnight”.
While the 1st version of “Midnight” appeared on “The Siren” album, as Illusions of Grandeur has been evolving over the past few years and changing our sound, we felt “Midnight” needed to come along on this journey. So, we, with our new producers, decided to update the song and release it as a standalone single, “MIDNIGHT25.” What's something you hope people take away from the new single? Maggie: "MIDNIGHT25" is a hard-hitting track filled with lyrical references to the moment of The Witching Hour. It brings to life the characters in the song and brings you into the world of “The Siren.” The composition, instrumentation, production, and the melody are a new direction for Illusions of Grandeur. It is especially fitting that the follow-up release, "Curses," will be released on Halloween as the two songs intertwine. Check them both out!
Do you have any favourite songs to perform live? It could be your own music or even a cover. Do you have any reason why?
Maggie: Recently, it would be “Her Flag Means Death” from our recent EP, The Siren Rises PT. 1: The Witch, the groove of this song just moves the crowd and the band!
If you could perform a show this very second anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Maggie: We have been attempting to tour in Italy and trying to make that happen, so I would say anywhere in Italy, IOG’s goal is to play anywhere, anytime for anyone, worldwide. We love touring. What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you while performing? Maggie: Never really had any very “strange.” I was handed a very young baby on stage once in the Ukraine, which was a bit strange. I handed him back directly, but it was a moment for sure.
What do you currently have planned for the remainder of the year?
Maggie: 2026 will see the release of Illusions of Grandeur’s new EP, The Siren Rises PT. 2: The Ascension, which will continue The Siren Saga from the previous albums, taking The Siren further into battle with Hades.
Check out more from Illusion of Grandeur: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IllusionsOG
Band camp: https://illusionsofgrandeur.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iogmusic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iogband
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCNb-T_hQo8nglq50v02BVmA
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