Warning – I never even heard of The Warning until a few weeks ago. A friend of mine is a big fan and suggested I check them out. He described them as three young sisters in their early 20s who play a combination of heavy metal/pop – said they had a unique sound.
Well, I like “unique” even if I don’t like heavy metal.
When I first arrived at The Majestic Theatre in what is a really nice and underrated section of Detroit, I thought I got the nights mixed up. Most of the people in the audience looked like, well they looked like me. Old. Male.
I’ve seen well over 100 bands in the last year and I’ve become pretty good at predicting the makeup of an audience. For example, I knew Chase Wright at District 142 in Wyandotte last weekend was going to be 1. Young. 2. Female. And it was 85 percent young females.
I was thinking of a similar dynamic for The Warning – I couldn’t have been more wrong.
All that said, I was as impressed with their music, playing skills and personalities on stage as I was surprised by the median age of the audience.
So, who is The Warning? And why were they the youngest people in the building on Tuesday night? Let’s not do a deep dive but tip our toes in the water and get the Cliff Notes on the band.
Warning – if you search The Warning on Google news you are going to get updates on floods, high winds and tornados.
The Villarreal Vélez sisters (Daniela – guitar, vocals, piano; Paulina – drums, vocals, piano; and Alejandra – bass guitar, backing vocals, piano) were born in Monterrey, Mexico. The sisters formed a “power trio” when Alejandra started playing bass at the age of 7 – yes, 7.
As many of you already know, The Warning first gained widespread notice in 2014 when, at ages 9 through 14, their YouTube video of Metallica’s Enter Sandman went viral, eventually reaching over 25 million views.
A record deal, 6 song EP and a debut album XXI Century Blood would follow in 2017.
More recently, they released their fourth studio album Keep Me Fed on June 28, 2024.
They also apparently have a very dedicated fan base that doesn’t take too kindly to criticism. From what I have heard and seen, what’s to criticize? They seem to be more punk than heavy metal to me based on my limited experience with their music and their songs seem to be getting better and louder and stronger as they mature as songwriters.
They are all incredible musicians. Paulina is a beast on the drums and so much fun to watch expressing herself behind the kit.
One fun thing to note about their ages. Daniela is now 24-years-old. George Harrison was 27 when The Beatles BROKE UP. 🙂
So there are the Cliff Notes on The Warning. I was impressed enough to continue exploring their music. Just bought Keep Me Fed on Amazon – and got the vinyl (told you I was old). I’m looking forward to hearing more of their music.
