By Raine Blunk
Hallucinex guesses he’s only played around 10 live shows and has to give himself a pep talk before going onstage, something he says is “akin to the last scene in Boogie Nights.” Taylor Noll, the man behind the Hallucinex handle, will be pepping himself up this Saturday to open for Christ, Lord at The Sparetime along with Hello Ocho and Makeout Club.
Although Noll might not have the strongest nerves when it comes to performing, writing dreamlike and melancholy pop songs seems to be his thing. The Hallucinex SoundCloud page only has seven songs, but Noll’s sound (which has, against his will, been compared to The Album Leaf) creates an undeniable atmosphere that fills a void in Savannah’s heavily concentrated punk/metal scene.
Like many artists working in a technology-driven era, Noll has battled with the impact of the Internet on his music and his perspective as a musician. “It’s a lot scarier because you know how much is out there,” says Noll. “It’s not a competition thing, but there’s a lot of good stuff. It makes you do the best you can.”
And Noll’s best music can only get better from here.
“I haven’t made any money yet. I just do it because I enjoy it,” says Noll, who is considering relocating to New York in the near future to work in film post-production. “I’m trying to get more music out … I have all this material but I’m ambivalent about putting it out there.”
Noll does admit it’s easier to find time to be a musician in Savannah. He practices every day, even when it gets in the way of working on side projects. “It’s a cheap city, which makes it easy to … make music. There aren’t a lot of distractions,” says Noll, who confesses he will probably have a different perspective on making music in the next decade.
Hopefully, Hallucinex will be able to keep distractions to a minimum on Saturday night during his set with Paul Georner of Blackrune before Atlanta-based Christ, Lord brings their eclectic set of instruments onstage. Noll says he’s just now beginning to like his own music “a bit more” but keeps recording because the self-loathing motivates him.
More than any big-name band or record label, Noll says he is most inspired by fellow musicians. “My friend Ryan (who is in mumbledust) has been able to get a lot going around these parts and he always wants to hear more of my stuff.”
Unfortunately for some of Hallucinex’s fan base, The Sparetime is one of Savannah’s many music venues that is 21-and-up. “It would be nice to have another established venue for 18-and-up,” says Noll, who understands the difficulties of being an underage college student in a city with such a strictly regulated nightlife.
So what happens for Hallucinex after the show on Saturday? Noll, who just graduated from the university’s film department, says that recording music videos for himself is “kinda weird” but he wants to try it out soon. Between his ever-developing soft-pop sounds and self-filming fantasies, Noll’s future “distractions” as Hallucinex might prove to be fruitful.
