Hooked: Joel Hoekstra on AC/DC's "Back in Black"

Twelve years ago, few could have predicted that Daniela Villarreal’s teenaged hobby would one day see her commanding the stage in major rock capitals around the world. Back then, the Warning were three sisters in Monterrey, Mexico—singer-guitarist Daniela (“Dany”), bassist Alejandra (“Ale”) and drummer Paulina (“Pau”)—having a School of Rock-style good time knocking around on Metallica covers. Soon enough, their homemade YouTube videos caught fire, and it wasn’t long before the group began appearing on international TV shows. Fast-forward to today, and the Warning are big-time stuff—they’ve issued a string of knockout albums and EPs, and they’re touring pros holding their own on bills with the likes of Muse, Foo Fighters, Def Leppard and Yungblud. Their newest album, Everything’s Falling, is a super fuzzed-out, industrial-tinged hard-rock doozy that could raise their stock even higher.

For Dany, looking back on those early daydreams makes her current reality seem both heady and deeply grounding. “There’s so much going on all the time, every day, so when I get a chance to think about it, it’s like, ‘Whoa, I can’t believe how far we’ve come,’” she says. “We’re visiting all these places and having fun, but at the same time, it’s so much work. That’s what surprised me the most, how overwhelming it feels.”