The Warning is the name of a band comprised of young sisters from Monterrey, Mexico. One of my friends shared the following covers on Facebook the other day, which is how I learned about them, and I thought some of the board’s musicians and music fans might enjoy watching these kids as well. I’m pretty much gobsmacked.
Enter Sandman - Metallica
The vocals are admittedly a bit weak, but then how many 14-year-old girls sound like James Hetfield? You don’t see much from the bass player but she’s no slouch either, as the following clip reveals.
The real star of the group seems to be the drummer, Paulina. She seems to have the stronger personality and does most of the talking in interviews. She’s also a standout in just about every one of the band’s videos. Here she is soloing at 9 (10 when posted to Youtube) and I’m pretty sure her performance here will blow you away.
And while we’re on the subject, here are a couple of other drummers I discovered while surfing for Warning clips. One’s a young girl from Germany who to my untrained ear is stunning, and the other an adult of 31 who took up the drums at 18 in her native Israel and moved to L.A. to pursue music after 2 years in the Israeli army.
The young girl is named Sina (pronounced Seena). She plays the following Rush song without a drum track and I think she does an amazing job.
The next few covers are by a woman I’ve never heard of named Meytal Cohen. The comment section is mixed as to her true ability (masterful vs. adequate) but she plays with such verve and joy that it’s a pleasure to watch her play. Part of the problem may be that she has so much fun she makes it look easy. She must be fairly good though as her eponymous band just released an album of original music and they’ve been chosen to tour with and open for Queensryche this summer. She has something like 120 covers on Youtube so if you like her there’s plenty more material to explore.
Yeah, I was listening to Enter Sandman again in my car tonight, and Daniella’s solo sounds pretty much indistinguishable from that of any upper level lead guitarist in a big name band. Absolutely amazing!
Their parents are doing an excellent job of getting these kids educated in and excited about music while at the same time keeping them grounded and motivated to learn. In listening to an interview posted to their website, their love of and excitement about music is palpable. They just can’t wait to learn and learn and learn some more. There’s no sense that they’re full of themselves or impressed with how good they are, they just want to keep learning and keep getting better.
It isn’t apparent on the surface, but they work their butts off too. On Ellen Degeneres’ show Target gifted them the $30,000 they were trying to raise to attend summer classes at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, and they said one of the things they were looking forward to most was being surrounded by other music students who could identify with and appreciate the hard work involved, because their school friends and acquaintances just don’t get it. For example, Paulina, starting at the age of 8, worked for a year to learn how to do her drum part on the My Life Would Suck video, being taught by several different music teachers and drum coaches along the way. The fact she finally nailed it is why she did her little hand clap at the very end of the video.
It’s gonna be fun watching them progress. One of the music teachers at Berklee told them he’d likely be watching them on stage picking up Grammys ten years from now.
I’d pay money to see them play live, even at this stage. They’re starting to make appearances here and there and if they ever schedule a show somewhere near me I’ll definitely buy a ticket.
I’m not really a fan of the “kids playing note-for-note covers” genre, and these links aren’t much of an exception…it’s great someone can do that at a young age, but it just means someone is becoming a competent studio musician. There are a ton of them on YouTube, just not as packaged as these.
That said, a couple of great things to note. First, you guys keep calling out the drummer, and she really does look remarkably composed back there and very, very comfortable. I think that means she enjoys what she’s doing, and I love that. Very cool.
Second, if you go to their website, there are LOTS of originals (they’ve released an album this year), and those are worth a look…the songs are varied, and they seem to be developing. All that said, the songs aren’t great either, and I have to wonder if they’ll remain what is essentially a novelty act, or grow into something more interesting (or even pull a Hanson and have that one big hit)
I must be out of touch, because i wasn’t aware this was a genre. I’m just pretty impressed, is all. I’m under no impression that their current spark of exposure guarantees them long-term success, or a place in the musical pantheon. I just think they’re pretty great for a group of kids under the age of 15.
There are considerable hurdles in their way as far as their long term future as a band is concerned. Puberty and the discovery of the opposite sex can derail interest in other things, as can marriage and having kids later on. Their boyfriends/husbands may not be a good fit with the rest of the family and that could cause problems too. Their lives can take separate tracks as each of the older kids leave school at least a couple years before the next in line. Assuming they all attain the same level of education, Daniella will graduate around two years before Paulina and five years before the youngest girl and a lot can happen in that time, as can the time between Paulina’s graduation and Alejandra’s. And of course drugs and the pressures of stardom are a constant threat to anyone who attains success in the field of music and they’ll have to avoid that pitfall as well.
At some point they may need to bring in a singer and/or another guitarist if they want to keep playing the same kind of music and that can lead to problems. They know they really need another guitarist or singer but they they’ve rejected the idea because as family they’re always together and available for practice, and being family they all love one another and are willing to forgive mistakes and overlook things about each other which may not necessarily be the case with an outsider, where problems can develop either from them to him or from him to them. So for now they’re keeping it just the three of them, which puts a lot of pressure on Daniella as she essentially has to alternate the rhythm and lead parts simultaneously and sing all at the same time.
I agree their original stuff isn’t on par with their covers but they’re still just children. I doubt that James, Lars, etc. were all that great at their age either. They also don’t have the benefit of the producers, engineers and other behind the scenes people who make big name bands sound as good as they do.
But they’re getting a lot of support in terms of music education and development from their parents and a variety of music teachers and coaches. They’re being taught things up front that most big name band members have to figure out on their own through trial, error and the passage of time. Whether this will be a help or hindrance in terms of their creativity remains to be seen, as sometimes a formal education can lead to getting stuck in a rut, where lesser educated musicians can be more free to go where their instincts take them.
It’s for reasons like these that I say it’ll be interesting to watch their progress. They have a lot of talent and desire and a strong love of music, but whether they can hold together as a family, progress as songwriters, and overcome the hurdles they’ll have to clear along the way will be what ultimately determines the level of success they achieve.
As for me, I’ll be wishing them nothing but the best.
No apology needed as far as I’m concerned. Your comments appear to be coming from personal knowledge and experience, and they provide valuable insight for someone not schooled in music, like myself. I appreciated what you had to say.
Well, they’re certainly making moves to become more professional and packaged.
They just released a video. The production values, number of actors, and effects suggest that someone was willing to throw quite a bit of money at the project.
