The Warning on their new album and bridging the generation gap

Mexican rockers The Warning are a power trio composed of three sisters who combine their old- and new-school hard rock and metal influences in a way that has beguiled fans from Gen Z through Gen X. They began with humble roots, jamming out Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and other famous bangers 10 years ago in their home. After their family posted some of their performances on YouTube—and they got a big thumbs up from Metallica—that viral exposure led them to play more and record their own music. Four years ago, they landed a deal with Lava Records starting with their third album ERROR, and they have since opened for bands like Foo Fighters and Guns N’ Roses.

The Villarreal Vélez sisters—Daniela (vocals/guitar), Alejandra (bass/vocals), and Paulina (drums/vocals)—are heavy-hitters with an ear for melody (they all play piano), and they like to infuse their cross-generational sound with different elements. Their fourth and latest album Keep Me Fed continues that tradition. Their hard-rocking mojo, visual style, and amiable chemistry have endeared them to a legion of fans worldwide. Their latest U.S. tour starts on Sept. 13th.

Daniela and Alejandra (aka Dany and Ale) sat down for a video chat with The A.V. Club to talk about their musical evolution, the Mexican rock scene, concerts they wish they could have seen, and much more.

AVC: I noticed that previous Warning albums leaned a bit more on an old-school metal vibe, but I think that now it’s more new-school, more like late ’90s, early 2000s, with a touch of pop. Did you guys think about that at all when you were creating Keep Me Fed?

Dany: I don’t think on purpose, but we do feel that evolution and growth for us.

Ale: We just wanted to make a fun album. I feel like we took ourselves too seriously sometimes with our past albums, and for this album, we really just wanted to have fun with it. We had a lot in mind [for] live shows and how we wanted to perform these songs. Sometimes we would even check the tempo—can we jump to this beat? This album is really just about having fun for us, and I’m glad you can hear that.

AVC: At the same time, you do have dark songs like “Hell You Call A Dream.”

Ale: Sometimes we’re still gonna be tough, dark, and deep, but for the most part, we wanted to have more fun songs.

AVC: What inspired the lyrics to that song?

Dany: To be completely honest with you, we wanted to find a way to just express the mix of emotions of the big peaks of touring. The best emotions in the world—being on stage and seeing the people who want to be there to see you and just connect through music. And also not sleeping, not eating, traveling, being less than 24 hours in every city. That’s the mix of what “Hell You Call A Dream” is about.

AVC: I love the fact that “Six Feet Deep” has a horror-inspired video. Are you guys big horror fans?

Dany: No!

Ale: I can’t watch horror movies.

Dany: I get scared so easily. But it was a cool way to express what we wanted to say and the narrative of that. And I feel that it was so cool to do.

AVC: Since it looks like a male presence in the house, and it carved “shut up” into the wall when your characters were younger, is this a metaphor for battling the patriarchy?

Dany: It’s maybe less of a gender thing, but it was just this entity created out of obstacles that we had along the way, of just limits of what we could or could not do. And we’re hunting it down now that we’re this band. You can see [when] we’re presented as little kids and having those obstacles, and now [as adults]…

Ale: Fighting them.

AVC: You have said that as you were developing the band you discovered that a lot of young people in Mexico are craving this music. What’s the metal scene like there?

Ale: Mexico loves rock. There is such a big rock community, every time there’s a rock festival in Mexico it’s always packed. It’s such a lovely community, and everyone gets so energetic and excited. People are also very open to discovering new bands. There are always smaller bands in these festivals, and we were once the ones there. There has always been a rock scene in Mexico, and even though it’s not the most popular genre in Mexico it’s still very big. People love Mexico, and people love going to rock shows, and bands like Muse and Foo Fighters and Guns N’ Roses always come to Mexico. It’s always so fun to go to all of these rock shows. 

AVC: It feels like you’ve got a lot of older fans in America, because there are middle-aged guys who appreciate bands like you and Måneskin. Are you finding that you have a lot more older fans in America and maybe the UK?

Dany: We get a lot of messages…

Ale: Especially since we started out doing covers, all of these fans of all these iconic bands we covered found us through these covers, and now they like our music. We definitely have a lot of variety and age in our fans. It’s really nice because you get these people [who] bring their whole families—you have the five-year-old there, you have a 15-year-old, and there’s the parents. It’s just so nice. Sometimes you see people that bring their whole family, so they’re just 10 people rocking out in our show. It’s so fun to see that.

AVC: When you talk to a lot of the older fans, what do they tell you about why they like the music, about what’s resonating for them?

Dany: We hear a lot that it takes them back to their younger days…

Ale: What they listened to when they were younger…

Dany: Especially since they didn’t think they would hear it again.

Ale: Exactly. A lot of people think that rock was dying out. The mainstream stuff is not generally rock [now]. They love [that] there’s a new generation of rock, and they feel like rock is coming back again. So it’s just really nice that we can give all of these people something new, while still reminding them of what they listened to when they were younger.

AVC: I feel like the future for rock and metal is bands bringing their cultural influences from their homeland. The Hu from Mongolia has an interesting mixture of sounds. The Warning did a song with the Japanese group Band-Maid, and I’m curious what that was like. Did you also wonder what it would be like if you brought in Mexican influences and they brought in Japanese influences, and what that would sound like?

Dany: Sure. This was our first time working with Band-Maid, and the first time working with someone with a culture so different, language-wise as well, working through a translator. It was the first time we had ever done that. It was very interesting. So the goal for this time around was to just make a universal song that both of our audiences can fully enjoy. But definitely, we have to do something again. We did consider just having a verse in Japanese or Spanish.

Ale: At the end of the day, we agreed to do it all in English. We did talk [that] if we ever do something again, then it would be cool to have those aspects.

Dany: Even though we don’t have that obvious influence, we are Mexican and they are Japanese.

Ale: At the end of the day, it’s there because it’s in our blood. We grew up listening to this music, so it still influences us every day in what we do.

AVC: Are there any Mexican bands that you think deserve broader recognition?

Dany: Oh, my God, of course. We grew up with Molotov, Café Tacvba, Maná… there’s a lot.

Ale: It’s so weird because when you listen to Mexican rock, I don’t know what it is about it—it’s rock but it sounds like Mexican rock. I don’t know—it has this little something that just makes it sound [that way]. Sometimes they are more Mexican sounding. But sometimes they aren’t, and it still sounds like Mexican rock. It’s not just because it’s in Spanish, but it has this distinct sound that is so iconic to Mexico.

AVC: Many bands today use backing tracks and Auto-Tune. Part of the appeal of The Warning is that you play live and play well. Are you finding that younger fans are craving the organic experience that people like me grew up with, versus a lot of the pop and rock stuff that’s happening now?

Dany: We’ve gotten a lot of messages [like] “You guys have inspired me to pick up my guitar again” which is awesome. We love to see that. More than anything, I feel like music is such a big, expressive art [form], and I love that people can find themselves through that.

Ale: People get comfort in music, and we love making honest music and music that we love. Once we put it out, it’s for everyone to enjoy. It’s so nice how we find comfort in other music, and that people can find comfort in our music. That’s what it’s all about to keep the cycle going, and everyone can identify and connect with our songs in different ways.

AVC: Is there any style of music that you’d like to bring into your music that you haven’t yet?

Dany: It’s so cool to have an influence unconsciously without even thinking [about it]. There was this one era that we were influenced a lot by K-Pop.

Ale: It’s still part of us. We started experimenting a lot with harmonies, because in K-Pop they do so many harmonies because they have so many members. That one was a conscious one, but everything we listened to from when we were really young to right now is a part of us, and unconsciously or consciously, it comes out in our music.

Dany: So let’s say French disco.

AVC: Ale, I heard that you were into French pop.

Ale: It’s really fun.

Dany: It’s really cool.

AVC: Your parents raised you on a steady diet of classic rock and pop concerts on video. If you could go back in a time machine and see any concert, what would it be?

Dany [eyes pop]: Oh, my God, that’s impossible…

Ale: I think I would go to either a Queen concert or…

Dany: I think Pink Floyd for me.

Ale: I would go to Michael Jackson. That would be insane.

Dany: Dude, that would be really cool.

Ale: If I could go to so many… There’s the Beatles…

Dany: Even though I would definitely go to Queen, I think I would have to experience the [Pink Floyd] Pulse tour live. It makes me cry seeing it on the TV. Imagine being there.

AVC: Dany, what was it like receiving a guitar from Lzzy Hale on stage?

Dany [laughs]: Insane. I can’t believe that. I had a guitar change, and they were not changing the guitar. I was like, “What is happening, guys?” And then Lzzy Hale comes out with a new guitar. I didn’t even register that it was for me. After the show, I went to give it back to her. She’s like, “No, darling, that is yours.” Are you kidding? Oh my God. What a moment.

Ale: Honestly, watching that from the side, it was such a lovely moment to experience. I remember everything, and it wasn’t even for me. It was just such a nice thing for her to do.

AVC: The Warning has opened for Muse, Guns N’ Roses, and Foo Fighters. Is there any great advice you’ve gotten, or is there anything you’ve witnessed, that was a valuable lesson for you?

Dany: One of the things that I’ve realized—not necessarily that we’ve been told—is how important it is for your whole team to be a big team, to be in it together. And be nice. Everyone is so nice. I see why they’re so successful. They love what they do, and…

Ale: Everyone is so kind. We’ve worked with so many kind and nice people, and people who have been willing to give us the opportunities to open for them and work with them. I feel like also, not only us, but our whole team has been seeing these huge productions being so organized and having everyone do their own thing. Everything’s so organized and perfectly done. That has taught us so many things—just by watching them, by being there, and experiencing all of this— to work harder on our show and how we organize things, how we do things technically. I feel like that’s how we’ve grown the most, by touring with all of these bands—not only us, but everyone in our team.