3NDLES5 Proves to Be More Than the Australian R. Kelly Nobody Wanted

It may be a stretch to describe Mitch Tolman as complicated but there's no doubt that the guy is unique. The frontman for Sydney punks Low Life has a strong interest in European football, HTRK and punk poet John Cooper Clarke. He also loves Rihanna.

Tying in with his soccer interest he has helped establish Harbour City Ultras, a loose collective of musicians and creatives that includes WEET, Burning Rose records, producer PG13, Buzz Kull, William J Canning, and Nic de Jong's Civilisation.

Part of this collective is 3NDLES5, Tolman's solo electronic project that involves contemporary electronica and R&B to create an expansive 'club punk'. If Low Life is music for the dog track, 3NDLES5 is for the late night 7-11. Both feature harsh fluro light.

3NDLES5's debut record will be released in late 2017 on Burning Rose in the meantime he has released the track "Polyester" that he is launching this weekend in Melbourne.

Co-written by WRX aka Kerem 'Dizzy' Dadal, who plays in Orion and Oily Boys, the song slinks with retro synth and Mitch pleading "Why don't you tell it to someone who cares?"

Listen below and read a chat we had with Mitch.

Noisey: What is 3NDLES5?

Mitch Tolman: It's an idea I had back in 2010 around the time I started Low Life. I'm glad that I didn't do it back then because I wouldn't have had the technical abilities at all, I would've ruined it. It's like a boy band approach where all the work is done at home. I've put more effort into 3NDLES5one set than any Low Life show ever.

I got left behind with the whole technology boom. Growing up with a single mum, we didn't have a computer until 2005. It didn't really click for me until a couple of years ago when I decided to get amongst it.

How did the Harbour City Ultras come to be? 

I wanted to do this compilation that was just people that I thought were cool and doing interesting stuff. I want it to be an east coast thing. Maybe even a semi-international thing. I don't think there's an end game necessarily, they're just doing their own thing. In some sort of Darwinian way, it will end up shaping itself into its own thing. So far, we've got Suicide Apparatus, Muscle Memory, William J. Canning, WRX, WEET, Civilisation, Makeda Zucco. There's a younger crowd, the generation below us.

Are they part of the traditional rock and punk scene or young kids coming from different places?

All of them are going to Low Life or general punk shows but there's been a transitional shift from traditional underground DIY punk bands to electronic music. WEET for instance. He's got so much to offer, he's young, 23 and has so much up his sleeve.

I put in so much more effort programming electronic-based music. There's no room for error unless it's really obscene.

I've done this project out of sheer happiness. It's super emotional with a lot of post break-up vibe. There's a lot of heartache. It's more the kind of music that I've always listened to, so my scope is bigger. With Low Life I was always stumbling through it all. I only wanted to play shows for releases or if I'm touring for something special.

What is the vibe? Is everyone dancing and moving or is still very white rock dude? 

It's hard to examine at this point but I've noticed there's a similar vibe. With Low Life I was so confused why people weren't moshing. Then at one show after Dogging came out people went mental. Suddenly everybody got it. Maybe it will take awhile for people to get this as well.

Right now, it seems like people are being very observational. It's daunting but I'm revelling in the challenge. I didn't really expect how difficult this was going to be. It's been harder than anything I've done. It's designed for people to get loose to. I wouldn't call it dance music: the best description is that it's club music you wouldn't really club to.

What track do you think is sick?

I'm really stoked on how "Polyester" turned out. It was the first songs I did for 3ndles5 and that Dizzy did as WRX together. It opened a portal into a whole other world that we've been exploring since. We thought it was dog shit for so long until we met PG-13 when we were working on the Low Life album. He's spent a lot of time in L.A. He's "proper". I re-did the vocals three times, there's no fucking way I'd do that for a Low Life song. I knew it had to be right.

Do all tracks have vocals?

Yes, but during the live set there's a lot of interludes, HTRK remixes, Underworld remixes and snippets that blends the set together. Stuff from mid-90s rave culture, R&B and pub culture, and there's definitely a DIY punk attitude in there as well.

A lot of the material, where I "talk quickly" could be seen as a white person, an Australian white person rapping but I was really conscious of that. I mean, it never sounded like that but I was hung up on if that was atrocious and shouldn't be, but one of my friends made a joke that I was the Australian R. Kelly that never nobody ever wanted.

I know you are a soccer fan. Are there any football references that come into play for 3ndles5?

No obvious references but there's always themes of unity, brotherhood, game mentality, and the whole gang culture. The 'ultra' thing came from the idea of 'ultra' fanatic fans. My biggest influence would be Danger Incorporated, they are the biggest thing that I relate to. When I heard them, this is the closest thing I've been aiming to do and it came out of nowhere. They are different in style but in terms of ideology, they are exactly the same. They are also massive Yung Lean fans.

Yung Lean is quite a polarising.

I just really love his producers, I love the beats. I want to categorically say that I do not consider myself a rapper! I admit I've always been one for excess and I think that production wise I haven't gotten there just yet, but that's what I was so stoked on "Polyester". I wanted something really artificial and shrink-wrapped. That's one thing I've always loved from HTRK, which I don't know if that was a conscious thing on their behalf, but I really liked that about them.

Elements of HTRK are reflective in your music as well.

I recall HTRK being one of my favourite bands as a young adult. When I was 18 I would fanboy over Kevin Shields, Nigel Yang and Jonnine Standish. Maybe Irvine Welsh and plenty of footballers too.

3NDLES5 launches 'Polyester' April 15 in Melbourne at Hugs and Kisses with Horse MacGyver, Ying Li Hooi, and Makeda Zucca