{"id":474238,"date":"2026-09-24T14:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/474238\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T14:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:14:14","slug":"interview-mexican-rockers-the-warning-hit-no-1-defy-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/474238\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Mexican rockers the Warning hit No. 1, defy expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Growing up, Alejandra Villarreal was accustomed to the dry Mexican heat, trapped inside the small historic venues where she and her sisters would perform as kids. But as temperatures hit 103 degrees outside the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, she couldn\u2019t help but shout.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u00a1Ay, qu\u00e9 calor!\u201d she said, swinging her bass guitar.<\/p>\n

Inside the nearly 100-year-old theater, Alejandra was onstage for a sound check. She ran through distorted, metal-influenced riffs as her sisters \u2014 drummer Paulina Villarreal and lead vocalist-guitarist Daniela Villarreal \u2014 prepared for the second of three sold-out shows at the Fonda, as the rapidly rising rock band the Warning.<\/p>\n

The Warning has been shaking the walls of L.A. theaters since the group first landed in the city eight years ago \u2014 but this year feels especially monumental for the sisters.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Released in August, the band\u2019s most recent album, \u201cEverything\u2019s Falling,\u201d is a snarling, noisy and melodic rock joyride that rarely, if ever, slows down. <\/p>\n

Written between L.A. and their hometown of Monterrey, the straight-to-the point lyricism documents the Villarreal sisters\u2019 frustrations, anger and failures \u2014 most fiercely on \u201cKerosene,\u201d which lambasts a jealous critic who \u201cfalls asleep with me on your screen,\u201d so sings Daniela.<\/p>\n

\u201cKerosene\u201d<\/a> recently shot up to the No.1 spot on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, which made the Warning the first Mexican and first all-female band to make the spot. Another single, their Spanish-language anthem \u201cEgo,\u201d was nominated for rock song at the 2026 Latin Grammys.<\/p>\n

\"Rock <\/p>\n

Members of the Warning hold up Billboard No. 1 awards after performing at the Fonda Theatre.<\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The legend of the Warning began in 2014, when Alejandra was just 9 years old and Paulina and Daniela were 12 and 14, respectively. The sisters came home from a Sunday carne asada with their family \u2014 and recorded a righteous cover of Metallica\u2019s \u201cEnter Sandman.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Dressed in floral blouses and white capris, the girls thundered through the song with a focus and technical ability that sparked the interest of audiences worldwide \u2014 earning them a current total of 27 million views, not to mention praise<\/a> from Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were wearing our sandalias, our church clothes,\u201d Paulina said. \u201cIt\u2019s just pretty crazy to think that one random Sunday afternoon we recorded that and it jump-started our whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the group came from playing the video game \u201cRock Band,\u201d which led the sisters to performing at local \u201cBattle of the Bands\u201d competitions and posting cover songs to YouTube. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

But the success of the \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d cover changed the course of their lives, taking them from local venues like Cafe Iguana \u2014 or, as Paulina calls it, \u201cMonterrey\u2019s Whisky a Go Go\u201d \u2014 to appearing<\/a> on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and various international music festivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started having adult responsibilities way early in our lives,\u201d Paulina said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have that [average] teenage experience at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t go to normal school, we didn\u2019t go and hang out with other teenagers,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe were mostly hanging out with adults like our parents, [or] on tour and working. So there was this huge disparity between what our friends were living through and what we were going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the course of its 13-year career, the Warning has opened for acts ranging from the Foo Fighters to Yungblud, writing and recording tirelessly in between. Now that the bandmates are all in their 20s, they say they \u201cwouldn\u2019t change it for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 10, I was like, \u2018This is what I\u2019m going to do for the rest of my life,\u2019\u201d Alejandra said. \u201cI guess I did miss out on high school and \u2018the norm.\u2019 But honestly, I\u2019m very grateful that we did this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cEverything\u2019s Falling,\u201d the Warning contends with self-imposed songwriting limits that boxed them in as children \u2014 and tear down old personas to reveal their continuous, however imperfect, process of growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our lives, we felt like we needed to sound a certain way,\u201d said Alejandra. \u201cEnglish is not our first language, so we always found ourselves using really complex words \u2014 so that people would say, \u2018They know the language.\u2019 The lyrics of this album are very straightforward. We don\u2019t have anything to prove anymore. It was a very liberating album to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the <\/p>\n

1\/4 <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"Rock <\/p>\n

2\/4 <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

3\/4 <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

\"Fans <\/p>\n

4\/4 <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n

The group\u2019s highly technical progressive rock style, influenced early on by bands like Muse, Metallica and Paramore, brought it a legion of Gen X fans who admired the sisters\u2019 dedication to shredding, mathematical guitar solos and classical training base.<\/p>\n

On their latest album, the sisters introduce new levels of fuzz and overdrive that blur their usually crisp instrumentals, plus verses that \u201clean into femininity\u201d and take inspiration from a source that may surprise some: K-pop.<\/p>\n

The rising global genre, known for its catchy harmonies and bouncing performance style, inspired the sisters to bring pop elements to their recording sessions. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love getting inspired outside of our genre,\u201d Paulina said. \u201cI think what happens a lot in rock is that, it\u2019s very purista [purist]. Especially as women, whatever you do is very scrutinized. So if you ever step out of those confines it\u2019s like, \u2018Well [if] you\u2019re not rock, you shouldn\u2019t even be participating.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The sisters\u2019 desire to defy expectations is most apparent in their jam-packed touring schedule.<\/p>\n

\"Los <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI fainted onstage [in July], and it was very dramatic,\u201d recalled Paulina. \u201cMore than it being scary, I think people for the first time realized how hard we work. People were like, \u2018Oh, your team is pushing you too hard.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody\u2019s forcing us to be here,\u201d she added, resolutely. \u201cWe\u2019re grown women. We know what we\u2019re doing and we know how much we can take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniela, the lead vocalist, had come down with a cold during the group\u2019s L.A. shows, which required her to step back from interviews to rest her voice. The first night, she sang through the entire setlist, screaming and all \u2014 but by the third, she could only perform a few songs. Rather than cancel the concert, the Warning insisted that the show go on.<\/p>\n

A la Karen Carpenter, Paulina sang lead vocals from behind the drum kit, calling on the crowd to clap and sing along to the music. They also brought out fans and collaborators to help them perform, including songwriter Annie Schindel, as well as rock acts Holy Wars and Dead Poet Society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe push forward through a lot of bad experiences,\u201d Alejandra said. \u201cOne time I felt like I was dying \u2014 and that was the one of the few times we canceled a show. We only do it in extreme measures, because we know how much planning a show takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

One could blame it on the \u201cMexican work ethic,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Before taking on Hollywood, the sisters joined regional Mexican artist Car\u00edn Le\u00f3n on the first night of his sold-out weekend at the Sphere in Las Vegas: the first time a Latin artist had ever headlined the venue. The band released the bluesy rock single \u201cLove to be Loved\u201d<\/a> earlier this year with the Sonora native, recalling the first time they played it together \u201ca highlight of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Even if] we do our own thing in a different genre, we still shared that pride because of where we come from,\u201d Paulina said. \u201cEverything about that show was so Mexican … The unity, the community that we have outside of our country. Hopefully the people that went there felt how special it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI cried,\u201d Alejandra added. \u201c[Watching Car\u00edn perform], it was emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

A week later, at the Fonda, they smiled as fans launched into chants like \u201cOl\u00e9, Ol\u00e9, Ol\u00e9\u201d and \u201cViva Mexico.\u201d The line had been forming since 3 p.m., and once the show had begun, the Warning transformed from jovial 20-somethings to well-seasoned professionals. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there will be a very clear change in what we do, \u2018Everything\u2019s Falling\u2019-forward,\u201d Paulina said. \u201cI feel like we really allowed ourselves to be more emotional in the music and these shows, and that feels really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Alejandra: \u201cWe opened Pandora\u2019s box.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up, Alejandra Villarreal was accustomed to the dry Mexican heat, trapped inside the small historic venues where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[186541,186542,12151,9831,102120,7244,48,52,51,1637,47,50,49,186540,592,53622,45207,15158,142139,3396,72],"class_list":["post-474238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-alejandra-villarreal","tag-daniela","tag-everything","tag-first-time","tag-fonda-theatre","tag-group","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-life","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-paulina","tag-people","tag-rock-band","tag-sandman","tag-sister","tag-sold-out-show","tag-warning","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}