Album of the Year, 2024
The Warning: “Keep Me Fed”
One of the great pleasures of following the epic television series “Game of Thrones” was watching Arya Stark literally grow up in front of our eyes. She started off a socially awkward little girl, more interested in doing boy-stuff like archery and tree-climbing, than in politely hanging back as girls are supposed to do.
Gradually, we saw her grow into a self-assured and indomitable young woman, who also happened to be a ruthless assassin. We rooted for her because she only went after the bad guys. By the end of the series, she was easily one of the three most popular characters out of a huge ensemble cast.
What does this have to do with The Warning? For me there is an obvious parallel to be made. These young women may not be assassins, but they have grown up, in front of our eyes, into a voracious, unstoppable force, bent on conquering the world. The title of this album pretty much says it all.
The Warning are:
Daniela “Dany” Villarreal Velez: guitars, piano, lead and backing vocals (born Jan. 2000)
Paulina “Pau” Villarreal Velez: drums, piano, lead and backing vocals (born Feb. 2002)
Alejandra “Ale” Villarreal Velez: bass, piano, backing vocals (born Dec. 2004)
When you are nine years old, a few months make a big difference. That is how old Alejandra was when she and her sisters recorded a cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and their father posted it on youtube. That video went viral, partly because it was cute, but mostly because they could actually play. Metallica’s lead guitarist, Kirk Hammett, complimented them on social media, saying the drummer, in particular, “kicked some serious ass”. See for yourself:
Today, this video has over 26 million views (the total is over 80 million views if you include re-uploads, streams and unofficial shares). It is, perhaps, most significant as a bit of internet archeology: A look back at three soon-to-be rock stars, when they were children messing around in their parents’ basement. That was in 2014.
They got busy raising money on Patreon to make some demos, and one thing led to another. By 2017 they had released two crowd-funded albums, done some touring, and played several rock festivals. They had been on the program with bands such as Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, Aerosmith, the Killers, Deep Purple, the Scorpions and more. This was just the start.
In 2018 they released a concept album, “Queen of the Murder Scene”, written as the internal dialogue of a girl obsessed with someone unattainable. Does that make it sound like a generically melodramatic song about teenage lovesickness? Well, it’s not. The plot rapidly descends into obsession, stalking, murder, remorse, psychosis, multiple personality disorder and suicide.
The most important thing about it is that the music is actually interesting. The girls were precocious composers and songwriters, and at 18,16 and 13, already knew how to own a stage:
They have twice performed the entire suite live, and still perform individual songs in their shows. Paulina sings the role of the girl on the edge. Daniela sings the character of the Queen, who is actually the girl’s murderous alter ego. That streak of darkness continues to color most of their writing. Where it comes from is anyone’s guess, because off stage, the girls (now young women) are charming and effervescent, if a bit intense.
They poured themselves into their music, their parents hired tutors, and they hit the road. They have toured North America several times, both as headliners, and as the occasional opening act for bands like the Foo Fighters. They did entire tours with Halestorm and the Pretty Reckless , probably the top two female-led hard-rock bands in the U.S. today. People called it a veritable supernova of girl power.
They also invested in formal training, and the next clip shows how it paid off. This is what seven years can do for you when you are in your prime growth years and you use the time well:
Check out the drum fill around 2:10. It is a truly sublime.
The girls largely write their own songs. Like Lennon/McCartney, they always share credit, regardless of which one was the primary composer. Fans often refer to them simply as DPA. They increasingly collaborate with other songwriters, in order to expand their range, and top musicians are now regularly approaching them about working together.
“Keep Me Fed” was produced by Anton DeLost, who has also produced Highly Suspect, Cleopatrick and the Dead Poets Society. Some of the songs were co-written or co-produced by Dan Lancaster, who co-writes and produces songs by Muse and Bring Me the Horizon, among others. The Warning have also toured with Muse.
When Metallica embarked on making the Blacklist Album (an album of songs from the original Black Album, covered by other, mostly famous artists), one of the first bands they invited to participate was The Warning. They were by far the least established band invited to the party, but were assigned to do the opening track—a daunting challenge.
They teamed with Canadian singer Alessia Cara to record “Enter Sandman”. The arrangement is a complete re-imagination of the song—haunting and ethereal in parts, yet still metal. It is now one of the most celebrated tracks on the album:
Most recently, they were invited by Japanese hard-rockers Band-Maid to do a series of co-headlining shows in Japan. Fans of both bands went into near delirium. Without having planned it, the Warning have become ambassadors for female empowerment, and members of a growing worldwide community of women who rock.
Unlike a lot of the top pop stars, who try to tear each other down, the rocker-chicks seem to feel they are in a sisterhood. Lzzy Hale showed up and surprised Dany with the gift of a collector’s item guitar right in the middle of one of their concerts.
One of the oldest tropes in the music business, long used by promoters and critics alike to dismiss women playing rock, is “They play ok, for girls.” Some things are slow to change — a couple of generations ago the same nonsense was commonplace in the Classical music world. So yes, they play like girls. At this point, it means they are showing the rest of us how it’s done.
Their degree-of-difficulty is heightened by the fact that they are only a trio. In my 2020 post on rock trios, I discuss the difficulty of filling sonic space when you are only working with three instruments (four if you count vocals). They seem to have no trouble meeting the challenge.
Rock (2): Just the basics--drums, bass, and guitar: Cream, Hendrix, ZZTop, King Crimson and more
The Warning have been learning on the job, even as the spotlight intensifies. They are serious about their craft — they did an internship at Berklee College of Music, and have been taking voice coaching. Their successive albums show off rapidly growing skills as instrumentalists, as well as maturing, powerful singing voices. Fans tell them they are saving rock music, and they seem to feel a responsibility to live up to that.
We saw early on that they are not afraid to write dark or angry songs. Off stage, they appear to be normal, happy young women, but their songs channel angst that seems far beyond their years. In live performances they prowl the stage as though barely able to contain themselves. Dany can snarl with the best of them. They remind me of the great early power trios, complete with the swagger.
I saw them live during their spring 2022 tour, at a small venue in Berkeley. The place was packed to the rafters — I’m pretty sure some fire codes were broken that night. No special effects, no tricks, just the three of them, setting the place ablaze. It was an old-school clinic in how to rock. Since then, they have only gotten better.
Technically, they are not yet at the level of a Cream or a Rush, but the oldest of them is only 24, so they have plenty of time to get there. Paulina has already won multiple awards for drumming, including “Best Up and Coming” drummer in the 2023 Modern Drummer readers’ poll, and Drumeo’s “Rock Drummer of the Year” for 2023 (awarded in February, 2024.)
A lot of fans and critics alike moan that rock is dead. They are wrong. It just moved, and placed itself in the hands of women. Watch the following clip. It’s hard to find an all-dude rock band founded in the last thirty years that plays like this.
You will notice there are certain things missing from this performance. There is no pole-humping or twerking. No titty-flashing. No armies of half-naked back-up dancers. No autotune. No lip-synching. No miming. No bullshit. There is one beautiful, life-affirming scream. Live performances are the true test of a musical act, and I’d say The Warning have not just passed the test, but broken it.
The sources listed below include an excellent interview of the band, just posted in June. It provides some great insight not only into The Warning’s writing process, but into life as a rising rock band. I encourage you to make the time for it.
OK, Here is the album: The Warning, “Keep Me Fed”, 2024.
Sources:
The Warning, official website
https://thewarningband.com/
Interview with The Warning, Alison Hagendorf, June 25, 2024, youtube
Katie Timochenko: “The Warning”, June 2022 in Music Existence https://musicexistence.com/blog/2022/06/20/the-warning-mexicos-hard-rockers-make-canadian-debut/
TimberWolf7.62: “The Warning’s Queen of the Murder Scene” https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1feFBpjnk8Igk1smcqNR80BcvGnVhV0fwct88ncXSdLE/mobilebasic
The Warning Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheWarningRockBand
Charles, great post. I can't read your posts without having time, because I always want to watch every clip.
It's so intriguing to me that a lot of these hard rock and metal girl groups are coming out of traditional cultures, both in the US and in countries like Japan and Mexico and Indonesia. I wonder if metal really speaks to them in some powerful way in terms of 'liberation' through music. I know it does me, but I don't want to project onto them (and I haven't had time to watch the interview with The Warning).
I love seeing the passion of the male fans. I also wonder if men have really suffered by having a music industry that effectively shut most women musicians out for so many years, or made it remarkably difficult for them to participate -- or even to take up rock 'n' roll instruments.
Whatever the case, it's great to see what's happening, and thanks for documenting and sharing it.
Charles - These young women of The Warning are an absolute powerhouse! I listened to every clip and was in complete awe. Their growth, as you mentioned, is overwhelming. So gorgeously talented. I will want to see their progress and I have no doubt The Warning will bring back rock music. Having pointed out in the last song, how with simply these 3 women on stage is more than enough. I can see why Pauline is awarded so highly as a drummer. Stewart Copeland of the Police and Roger Taylor of Queen as well as Buddy Rich from the great jazz era would be enthralled! Thank you for introducing this masterful group.