You’ll undoubtedly be hearing a lot about The Warning in the coming days, weeks, and months – and not just from me. Who are they? Well here’s some basic information about them just to get you up to speed, but there is always more to learn.
They are a post-grunge, hard rock band from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico consisting of three sisters who are bilingual, fluent in both Spanish and English. Although they compose their music primarily in English, they have two Spanish language songs, and both are crowd favorites no matter where they play them.
This power trio band consists of Dany (Daniela) Villarreal Velez who is 23 y/o on lead guitar and vocals, and her sisters, Pau (Paulina) who is 21 y/o on drums and vocals, and Ale (Alejandra) who is 18 y/o on bass guitar and backing vocals. All three are classically-trained pianists. Although they have yet to use the instrument for any of their compositions, both Dany and Ale also play the saxophone. Clearly, they are musical prodigies.
They fell in love with Rock music at an early age through watching concert videos of such bands as Queen, Pink Floyd, and AC/DC that their parents played for them. Also, their parents bought them the game Rockband which Dany and Pau loved playing even when Ale was 3 y/o and too young to join in. Note: later versions of the game include songs by The Warning. Ale loved watching her sisters play. Luis and Monica, their parents, noticed how skilled Dany was playing the mock guitar at age 7 and how coordinated Pau was on the mock drums at age 5 and asked them if they wanted to try learning the real instruments. They hooked them up with instruments and professional lessons.
Dany suffered through the sore fingertips that come with learning to play the guitar, but her love of the instrument never failed. Pau loved hitting things, so it was natural that she become a drummer, even though she had difficulty finding anyone who wanted to teach her because she was barely bigger than a toddler, and being a girl playing a traditionally male instrument didn’t help either. But before long, her tenacity impressed a professional drummer enough that he took her under his wing to turn her raw talent and coordination into skill. When Ale was old enough, she wanted to play an instrument as well and fell in love with the bass guitar, even if the half-scale bass she started out on was as big as she was. When they realized that the instruments they were learning to play formed the basis of a rock band, they started learning to play them together.
They officially formed a Rock band in 2012 when they were 12, 10, and 7 and like most bands, they started out playing covers of their favorite songs. They recorded their mini-shows to share with their grandparents and other relatives. But, since the videos were too big to send via email, they created a YouTube channel and uploaded their videos. Eventually, strangers started to watch their videos as well and word began to spread about the three sisters from Mexico who played Rock music.
In 2014, a cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman went viral with millions of views, and the rest is, as they say, history. Based on their new-found fame, they ended up the subject of interviews on local TV shows due largely to the novelty of being a Rock band at their ages, but also how well they played. In the US, they appeared on The Ellen Show. Ellen, along with Target, sponsored them to attend the summer session of Berklee College of Music in Boston where they expanded their knowledge of music theory, song composition, etc.
Ale’s bass teacher was also instrumental in encouraging all of them to compose their own music. So, each of them has written complete songs although over the years they have arrived at a system for writing their original music. Pau starts off a song with a basic beat, the main riff, and some lyrics. She usually does this on a piano at home or on a midi keyboard plugged into her laptop computer. When she has the basic structure of a song, she demos it to her sisters and the three of them decide whether to continue work on the song or to nix it altogether with a simple vote of 2 out of 3 majority rules. Although they are sisters and of course have sibling squabbles from time to time, they usually argue the most in the process of composing their music. Their first songs explored their range of interests and musical influences as they searched for a sound and genre they wanted to pursue. They compiled an EP of their early music titled Escape the Mind. Though they didn’t initially intend to release it publicly, their growing following persuaded them otherwise.
Their first full album was released in 2017, titled XXI Century Blood. The album also contains some of their earliest compositions and the process of recording helped solidify their sound and musical direction showing a great deal of maturity for their ages. Several of the songs have become fan favorites and still appear on their concert setlists.
Their second album was released in 2018, titled Queen of the Murder Scene. It is an ambitious undertaking, essentially a Rock novel about a girl falling into love unrequited, eventually stalking and murdering the object of her obsession, and subsequently, her descent into self-destructive madness. It was during the composition of this album that the three truly arrived at their present system for creating their music as a team. Several of the songs presented unique challenges for them as they continued to expand their knowledge of music and experimented with key changes and varying tempos. They learned that working together was often the best way to resolve the problems they faced in creating their music.
Over the years, Dany, Pau, and Ale were approached by several labels and production companies wanting to sign them to a contract. But each time, the outsiders wanted to change their look, their music, or both. Even Disney approached them about creating a series based on their lives. But The Warning refused to change what they envisioned for themselves, and they stayed true to their musical dream and ambitions. Late in 2019, they were first approached by Lava/Republic Records. And, for the first time, a label was interested in them for who they are and their music for what it is. After several months of negotiation, they signed a five-album deal becoming the first Latin American band signed directly to a major US label.
They had also planned a major tour of the US for 2020, which was cut short by the Pandemic, but it also afforded them plenty of time to produce their third album, to be called Error. It was recorded in the fall and winter of 2020 in New Jersey with award-winning producer, David Bendeth. They began releasing singles from the recording session in mid-2021 with the intention of supporting their releases with an extensive tour. But because of the continuing uncertainty of the Pandemic, those tour dates kept being pushed back and the plans for their album’s release were also impacted. As they had released several singles already, and their fans clamored for more, they issued an EP consisting of six tracks, including the singles from their upcoming album, titling the collection Mayday.
With the relaxing of restrictions on touring, The Warning started appearing live again in early 2022 as part of their Mayday tour with shows in Mexico and Las Vegas before opening in Mexico City for the Foo Fighters. In Mid-2022, they released the full album titled Error, consisting of 14 tracks, 8 new tracks added to the six previously released on the Mayday EP.
Over the course of the past year, in addition to touring the US as a headliner, they have played at several festivals and have also opened for Mammoth WVH, Halestorm, Stone Temple Pilots, Three Days Grace, and in early 2023 they opened four shows in Mexico for their Rock heroes and musical influence Muse. During May 2023, they also supported GodSmack in the US. They have also been working on new material in songwriting sessions with several songwriters and producers since December while also planning their first European tour, during which they are already scheduled to open several more shows for Muse and Jinjer (in Zürich).
In October 2023, they are scheduled to perform a major show at the Pepsi Center in Mexico City during the F1 race.
The One & Only Elgon 