The Warning!

If you like rock music and you haven’t heard a band called The Warning, you should.

The band is composed of three Mexican sisters, Daniela, Paulina, and Alejandra Villarreal Vélez, from 20 to 25 years old as I write this. Despite their young ages, they are experienced pros, having begun on piano at age 5 or so before adding their current instruments, guitar, drums, and bass. At just-turned-20, Alejandra has 12 years of experience on her bass, for example.

They were raised on classic rock, often hard rock and metal, and use that as their base. But from that, they throw in a brew of other genres, sometimes switching mid-song. The David Bendeth-produced ‘Evolve’ turns from rock to metal with Paulina’s primal scream. ‘P.S.Y.C.H.O.T.I.C.’ has been called “cheerleader punk” as the protagonist of the concept album Queen of the Murder Scene celebrates her bloody work. The band calls for the crowd to “open the pit” before launching into the moshable ‘Sharks’.

These young ladies are masters of the riff and the hook. While Daniela can shred, the focus is not on long, drawn-out solos. They give each member their own showcase, but it is in the form of a crashing drum intro, a crunchy bass line, or a wailing guitar.

And the harmonies! All three sisters can and do sing lead, but the real magic is in the three-part harmonies and the effortless switching of the lead singer duties from one to the other. Paulina may sing lead (while still drumming furiously), the others will join in, and then she’ll drop out, with Daniela seamlessly carrying on the vocals.

They have an amazing stage presence, with all of them being dynamic performers above and beyond simply playing their music. Daniela, the cheerleader, runs across the stage with graphic facial expressions and dramatic movements, whipping up the crowd. She almost stepped on my hand once when she ran to jump up on a speaker cabinet at The Troubadour. Alejandra never stops moving, stalking the stage with deep knee bends, kicks, and sultry hair-whips. Paulina, far from hiding behind the drum kit, dares you to ignore her.

I teased them at one meet ‘n’ greet, with a snarky t-shirt that claimed the typical drummer was a psychopath, the lead singer a diva, guitarist a narcissist, and bassist antisocial. Paulina screamed ‘YOU THINK I’M A PSYCHOPATH?!!” when she saw it. And at the next show, she pointed at me and said “I still haven’t forgiven you for calling me a psychopath!” Daniela looked at her and said “Well, he called me a narcissist!” but they were laughing about it.

They are some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet, awesomely talented, and the world is a better place with them in it.

Here is The Warning, walking into a room where probably 95% of the audience didn’t know them and absolutely taking control:

And here are a lot of interview clips and songs and things that show what fun and wonderful people these sisters are: https://www.youtube.com/@TimberWolf762/videos