I love and appreciate music. I used to be a classic rock guy but my horizons have been expanded, and I mostly listen to contemporary music these days. I played guitar for a number of years and even led worship, but that was B.C. (before children). I was also a board member for a music foundation that built out and operates a venue for live music. I even booked the venue for about a year before COVID.
In the process of booking the music venue, I was constantly searching out new music. I focused on people writing and performing their own music. I looked for artists with a good enough following to fill a 200-seat venue but not so big that they were priced out of our range. I booked many, many acts, some of which have outgrown our space. At least one musician I booked went on to play for crowds of tens of thousands.
I tend to gravitate toward new folk, “new grass,” Americana, and indie rock, but I appreciate good music of all kinds. I go to live shows outside of my listening sweet spot to support young artists and appreciate their music. I like people who are not what I expect them to be, musicians who are authentic and who defy stereotypes. I also like a good story
All of these characteristics define a young group out of Monterrey, Mexico called “The Warning.” I will say now, “You have been warned!” which became their catchy promotional phrase when they were young – and not without reason. I can relate from experience that their rabbit hole is deep and winding!
The Warning is comprised of the three Villarreal Velez sisters who were raised by good parents who love music and introduced them to classical piano lessons, music of all genres, and Rock Band (the video game) when they were young. Daniela and Paulina began playing Rock Band when they were 8 and 6. They played it for hours and were driven to get perfect scores. Daniela (Dany) always played guitar and Paulina (Pau) insisted on the drums. Their little sister Alejandra (Ale) was “just a baby” (3) as she watched her older sisters play.
The girls became rockers and begged their father to buy them the real instruments they were playing on the video game. He obliged, signed them up for music lessons, and told them they had to give it at least 6 months. He had difficulty finding someone willing to give a 6-year-old drum lessons – a very small 6-year-old at that. The parents, Monica and Luis, captured their journey on video, part of which is the source material for a short documentary, Mayday in the Making, embedded below.
The girls took to that challenge their father gave them in the same way they were driven to achieve a perfect score in Rock Band. They shifted from piano lessons to guitar and drum lessons, and they practiced constantly.
Ale developed the same love of music as her older sisters, watching them play rock band and taking classical piano lessons herself. Though she was originally drawn to the harp, she fell in love with the bass guitar, and she began bass guitar lessons at 7 or 8 years old.
The sisters didn’t take long before they realized they could start playing music together, and they became a band. In fact, Ale had only been taking bass lessons for two months when they performed together for the first time in front of a live audience at a school Christmas celebration. Their father built them a state-of-the-art studio in the basement, which I imagine was half for sound containment and half to support his blossoming musical prodigies.
This may seem like an odd article on this website, but I do have a page devoted to music with perhaps a dozen articles I have written on music/faith themes. I have been inspired to write about the Warning, but I need to step up the stage first (pun intended) with an introductory article.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Rock Band inspired the girls to pursue hard rock driven by guitar, bass, and drums. They became a power trio in ponytails, skirts, and sandals.
One fateful day around 2011 or 2012, they recorded a cover of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica that they wanted their grandparents to hear. Like videos of other cover songs they were working on, their parents uploaded the video to YouTube. Dany was 14. Pau was 12. Ale was 9, and “the rest his history!”, as the saying goes.
The video that is now hosted on The Warning YouTube channel with over one million subscribers has over 27 million views. It obviously went viral.
People took notice. Even Metallica saw it, prompting praise from lead singer, Kirk Hammett. The girls were invited on the Ellen DeGeneres show, where they were presented with $10,000 checks from Target to spend a summer at Berklee College of Music. They were just girls – a teenager, a tween, and grade schooler.
They were homesick, but they look to it like ducks to water. Though Pau began experimenting with writing music earlier, they began writing their own music together in earnest. Their earliest songs are featured on the EP “Escape the Mind,” And other songs they wrote during that “Berklee period” appear in later albums. I am particularly fond of When I’m Alone, written by Dany as an assignment when she was feeling homesick, lonely, and sad.
I am also absolutely smitten by two songs Pau wrote at the age of 13. “Black Holes” was written by Pau about an alcoholic who had given up trying to fight the disease and succumbed to it. “Breathe” was written by Pau about her struggle with anxiety. She swore she would never perform it live, and she only did it once – in front of a sold-out crowd in Mexico City. These songs, played back to back before a rousing rendition of “Enter Sandman” (liked further below), are pure magic, the most poignant musical performance I have ever seen.
They were just girls. They took the path opened up to them by their talent, but it was difficult at their ages. They expressed their feelings in the music they wrote. They learned to be raw and genuine about themselves. Perhaps, that is why they connect so intimately with their audience and their fans. I will write about these things in future articles but I will finish this one with a summary of their accomplishments over the last ten years.
Some of the first songs written are recorded on the EP, Escape the Mind, released in 2015. On February 26, 2016, the sisters—Dany (15), Pau (13), and Ale (11)—performed and shared their early musical journey in a TedX Talk titled “Young Girls Love to Rock.”
Their first full-length album, XXI Century Blood, was recorded in 2016 and 2017 (featuring When I’m Alone). On January 21, 2017, they returned to the stage at the University of Nevada for another TedX Talk to perform original tracks from that album, including “Survive” (embedded below).
With gaining momentum, they wasted no time in writing, recording, and releasing another album, The Queen of the Murder Scene (self-released in 2018). They really leaned into Pau’s budding creative genius to create this concept album that tells a story from beginning to end.
The girls were still teenagers with one EP and two full length albums under their belt, including many songs that hold up surprisingly well today. In 2018, they also opened two sold-out shows in their hometown, Monterrey, Mexico, for The Killers.
Between 2018 and 2021 the warning was touring, building a fan base on social media, and writing songs. The Mayday EP was released in 2021, and the Villarreal sisters were hand-picked by Metallica to record their own version of “Enter Sandman” for a 30th anniversary tribute to Metallica’s Black Album. The Warning reimagined Enter Sandman with Canadian singer, Alessia Cara, long distance during the COVID lockdown, and it was featured as the first track on The Metallica Blacklist album. Their version of “Enter Sandman” has become iconic:
By 2022, The Warning was touring and supporting the likes of Haelstorm and the Pretty Reckless, the Foo Fighters, Three Days Grace, and Guns N’ Roses. They also signed with Lava Records. Their third full length album, Error was written and recorded between tour dates in 2022 at various studios in New Jersey with David Bendeth. Ale and Pau were still teenagers.
The sisters toured with their favorite band, Muse, in 2023 and opened again for Guns N’ Roses. They also recorded their fourth full length album, Keep Me Fed, amidst heavy touring, and it was released before the end of 2024. They were making a name for themselves and headlining their own shows.
The fifth full length album, “Everything is Falling,” was released on August 28, 2026., and they are blowing up. Their song, Kerosene, was No. 1 on the Billboard top 200 Mainstream Rock chart on September 5, 2026. They are the first all-female band and the first Mexican band to chart #1 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
These young women are just 26, 24, and 21 now, but they have been writing their own music, recording it, and releasing songs to the public for ten years!
They have already played on some big stages. played at the MTV Music Awards show in September 2023, and the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2024. They also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel in 2024, and they played a half time show during a Phoenix Cardinals game in November of 2025.
They are undeniably great as a unit of three. They fill a stadium full of sound. They command an audience. Each of them is a performer in her own right. They have captured the hearts of young and old. Each of them sings, and their harmonies are exquisite. Together they are a shining constellation of light and sound, but each one is a star in her own right.
Dany was named one of Guitar World’s Guitarists of the Year for 2025. She is an official PRS Guitars Featured Artist, playing a Custom 24-08. Her gear collection includes high-profile instruments gifted directly to her by rock icons, such as a Gibson Explorer from Lizzy Hale (Halestorm), a Manson ORYX VI from Matt Bellamy (Muse) and a PRS Private Stock Orianthi Lotus Bloom by Orianthi. On August 25, 2026, PRS announced the release of the Astryx, the Dany Villarreal limited custom guitar.
Pau was the Modern Drummer, Up and Coming Drummer of the year in 2023 and the Drumeo Rock Drummer of the Year in 2023. She was the Modern Drummer Readers Poll – Rock Drummer of the Year in 2025. She was also featured on the cover of Modern Drummer in April of 2026.
At 21 years of age, Ale is already recognized as a rising star in the modern rock scene, Alejandra is an official Spector Featured Artist. Spector hand-delivered her a custom, USA-built Spector NS-5XL 5-string signature bass, which she affectionately nicknamed “Ale’s Inferno.”
Together, the Villarreal sisters have caught the world’s ear and captured the hearts of millions of fans. The Warning’s “Automatic Sun” was nominated for MTV Push Performance Of The Year in 2024. They were nominated for for Best Rock Song at the Latin Grammy Awards in 2024 for “Qué Más Quieres.” They were nominated for Best International Live Artist at the Heavy Music Awards in 2025, and they were voted as the Best International Artist at the Rock Sound Awards in 2025. With Kerosene currently charting at No. 1 on the Billboard rock chart, the stratosphere is the limit.
With that backstory I am going to use this article as a springboard for future articles featuring some of The Warning songs that express their modern sensibilities of these young women through their music and lyrics as they chart a new era of rock.
They are not Christian artists, but they have strong family ties and family support, the dedicated support of a close knit team, and they have level heads on their shoulders. They are articulate and insightful. I don’t know what their faith story is if there is one, but they provide a personally relatable glimpse into experiences modern life, struggles, and sensibilities.
If you have read to this point, you have already been warned – in the best sense of that phrase. It is indeed a deep and winding road. Are they the Beatles of their generation? The saviors of rock music? I don’t know, but, they are special, and their story and their music is compelling, relatable, poignant, and worth exploring.
They have lived unusual lives. They have lived the dream of every musician who has dared to dream big, but they are vulnerable, normal people who struggle with things that other people struggle with. They share their struggles in their writing, and they connect. Perhaps, that is what makes them most special.
Navigating by Faith 