Undeniable are making their maiden voyage debut as a band at Stormrider Heavy Metal Festival and Stephanie Jewell sat down with Trent Mitchell, one of their guitarists, ahead of the show. Undeniable are a heavy metal band with powerful melodic vocals and soaring guitar riffs, made up of Mick Vinnie (vocals), Krissy Sanfead (guitar), Jahdal Baker (guitar), Trent Mitchell (guitar), Dean Menna (bass) and Jake Isard (drums).
Steph: Tell me about yourself and your band and how you came to be!
Trent: My name is Trent Mitchell, and I am one of three guitarists in Undeniable. I was putting some music together and I started putting it out there and once I had I think, six songs, I started looking for other musicians. I went to lots of gigs, went to as many gigs as I could, looked at a lot of different artists, and I just started talking to people. We are fronted by Mick Vinnie, we have got Krissy Sanfead on guitar, Jahdal Baker, Dean Menna and Jake Isard on drums. All of them are just unbelievable, Jake has just blown me away. That man is just so intelligent and such a nice guy, he can do anything. He works for Channel 7, musically he is just amazing. I couldn’t have done it without him, we wouldn’t be where we are. He literally transposed all the music for us. He is amazing. And of course, everyone knows Krissy, she is a master shredder.
People say to me ‘how is the music going’ and I don’t even know what we are going to play on the night. She is just sending me all these alterations to the music that are just amazing, I am like ‘oh my god, what is this?’. One time I said to her ‘oh I don’t know about this bit’ and then she sent me seven different options the next day and I was like ‘phwoar, okay! I like these three’ and then she took them and mixed them. I can’t believe it, I pinch myself. I’ve got the best, most amazing team I have ever worked with. They are just all really cool, professional people.
Steph: I can see that you have a guitar sitting in your hands, tell me about this beautiful instrument that you have brought along?
Trent: This one? I was about to get a Gibson Les Paul because I was in a band previously and the other guitarist just had Les Pauls. I always had pointy guitars, Ibanez with the Floyd Rose whammy bars and that. And the Les Paul sounded amazing, but it was really expensive like it was around $5,000. I went to Mega Music because I was told maybe a Les Paul is not for you, and I did the math and worked out I could buy two really nice guitars for the same price. So I went to Mega Music and they were unbelievable, in Myaree. I sat on a stool and they basically just kept bringing me guitars, one after another. And then they came across with a box and said ‘oh, maybe this one will be good’ and I opened the box and I just saw it and I thought ‘oh god, I hope this guitar just feels good’.
Steph: Can you please describe the guitar that I am looking at in your hands?
Trent: Its green, its got flames going down it, it is like a suit of armor so it has got chain mail background and the flames are actually a suit of armor coming down. I learnt who Michael Angelo Batio is, when I got this guitar because its his signature guitar, this armored flame guitar. So I went home and looked him up and he’s playing a four-necked guitar, he’s just an absolute freak on the guitar. And lo and behold, when I picked the guitar up, it just felt like the best guitar I had ever felt in my entire life or held in my hands. It keeps happening to me too, I went back to Mega Music because they are always so good to me and I was going there for an Ormsby. I really wanted one. But I ended up picking up this Ibanez thing up with seven strings. I remember I saw it because Lindsay from Primrose Path had one, and she had a picture of it and she was licking it. And I was like ‘ooh I wonder what that tastes like’ when I saw it. I picked it up and it was the same thing. I sat in the shop for two hours, I couldn’t stop playing it, and the guy goes ‘I think you have found a new guitar’ and I went ‘yep cool’ and I just brought it on the spot. It keeps happening. A friend of mine, the one that had the Les Pauls used to say ‘guitars speak to you’ so that’s the only way and I think that hits it on the head. You pick it up and just go ‘oh my god, this is it, this is mine’.
Steph: What about if you didn’t play guitar, what instrument would you choose to play?
Trent: Drums or bass. I wish I had have, guitarists are a dial a dozen. But drummers and bass players, really good ones, are not. And if you can play drums or bass, you have got a job for life, you can be in a cover band doing some easy beats and make good money and, on the weekends, or in your time off you can work on your original stuff. The piano too, I dabble on the piano, but that would also be a really cool instrument, I would love to have learnt to become a concert pianist, that would have been really cool.
Steph: Tell me about Undeniable, how would you describe your sound?
Trent: I don’t know anymore. I used to describe that we were like a Metallica, Master of Puppets (Metallica) album sound, and the Black album sound, with lots of guitar solos, so sort of like a Joe Satriani vibe. I am a massive fan of Steve Vai, but definitely have a Joe Satriani / Dorian sound to the solos I like to play. Now, Krissy and Jahdal are just taking the music that I have written, and they are turning it into something that feels totally different. It sends chills down my spine thinking about what they are doing to the music, it’s unbelievable. It’s like a monster that’s out of control, well I haven’t got control of it anymore. It used to be ‘yeah this is my music’ but it’s not my music anymore, and it’s just going wild. And then Mick, the singer, suddenly dropped two songs on me, and he says, ‘you have got four more coming’ and I am like, holy hell, how do I describe it? I guess it would be close to Dragon Force, sort of epic sound. Soaring vocals, crazy guitars with lots of guitar duets, big drums just thumping and lots of double kicks, heavy bass, I mean we just sound Undeniable.
Steph: Will this be your first gig with this lineup?
Trent: This is actually our debut show as a band. Stu contacted me on Facebook and he goes ‘hey how are you doing, when are you planning on having a show?’ and I said ‘oh probably July or August’ and he goes ‘do you want to be on the Stormrider card?’ and I just went ‘yes!’. I didn’t have a full band though, so I am like – holy crap, how can I say no to that, we do not deserve to be on the Stormrider lineup, we are talking some epic bands. I am looking at the lineup and you have got Black Majesty, and Krissy is going on and on about how amazing Black Majesty is, Chaos Divine, the list goes on! And just that pressure, just suddenly we went ‘okay we need to get this to happen right away’ and we got the last guitarist in, and then we have just been working like crazy to pull it together. It does feel like a lot of pressure, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again because I am a bit of a deep-sea fish, but that’s what I signed up for, that’s why I got such amazing musicians that are just levels above me to push me. So yeah, be careful what you wish for! Because I got it, I got what I wished for, and its pushing me to my limits which is what I wanted. It’s a thrill, I guess its like jumping out of a plane, its scary but you are loving it, and at the same time you are like ‘oh my god, this is happening’ so yeah.
Steph: So what is next after Stormrider for Undeniable?
Trent: Mick wants an album. He has told me we are making an album, and I went ‘wicked, lets do it’ so yet again, be careful what you wish for! The pressure is on, so it is going to be all steam ahead. We do have a Philippines tour, but we are moving it because Mick is away in Italy. So we are probably looking at January, February, March 2025. But the Philippines is a no brainer, we go every year. That will be the plan, every year we will go and that will just be bigger and bigger festivals, and we will take more and more Australian bands with us because they love us over there.
Steph: Are any Australian bands joining you this time coming?
Trent: Yes, so Amberdown are coming with us, that’s the main band, we have got some others that are interested in coming, but I am not sure. Code Red were going to come too but we aren’t sure if they are still coming with dates and what not, but we are definitely taking two more bands. We want to take at least four bands including ourselves, but Amberdown is yeah. Those guys have been an inspiration to me and such nice guys. I would do anything for those guys, they really have helped me. They helped me when I had no band and helped me mold it. Like some of the music is molded by the bass player, Jeremy Young, from Amberdown. Literally one of our songs wouldn’t exist without him because he made a couple of comments on it and he was spot on. His musicianship and his ear for crafting a song is amazing. But everyone in that band is like that though. So they have got an invite, every time.
Steph: Speaking of tour and festival line-ups, if you could have any 5 bands, who would you choose?
Trent: You would want Ronnie Dio, with Black Sabbath, I guess you would have to have Dio’s band wouldn’t you, if you have got Dio hanging out there. Led Zeppelin, Rammstein, they are the greatest band I have ever seen live. Lets see, I have got Led Zeppelin, I have got Black Sabbath with Ronnie Dio, and Dio’s band, Rammstein, okay so I get one more. Oh, Metallica! You would have to have Metallica there. I feel like I am missing someone. Iron Maiden, its almost like who wouldn’t you have there. You have got to have Judas Priest after that last album, holy hell. Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan. A Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix duo would be incredible. I would be basking in the glory of it. You would have Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, doing a G3 with Jimi Hendrix would be great. And Cream, yeah it would be amazing to see those guys. But yeah, or you’d have Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton do a G3, and then you would have Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani and the guitarist from Dream Theater.
Steph: Would you say these guys are influences to you as a band?
Trent: All music is. Everything goes back to the Beatles, music is that progression, it’s anything I have heard, and I have loved, and it just comes out. I don’t write – if you asked me how I write a piece of music, I just play with a guitar, and something happens. I think in an interview with Michael Jackson asking him about the song, Beat It, and they asked him ‘where did that bass line come from?’ and he said ‘I don’t know, it just came from the universe’. He said it in a much girlier way than me, but I really related to when he said that. All of my music, even my guitar solos I can feel it like I am consciously going ‘how am I doing this?’ and I am fiddling, and it is like ‘ah that’s how’ and it falls into place, that’s the combo. It’s like you are almost trying to find this combo that resonates with you.
A big thank you to Trent from Undeniable and Stu from Stormrider Touring. Be sure to get along to Stormrider Heavy Metal Festival, happening Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th August 2024 at Amplifier over both nights, celebrating Stormrider’s 10 year anniversary. You can catch Undeniable playing their debut on the Stormrider stage on the Friday night. Tickets available here.
You can follow Undeniable: Facebook
