Paulina Villarreal | The Warning's drummer and voice

Three sisters from Monterrey posted a cover of “Enter Sandman” online. One of them was on drums, and she was nine.

Fifteen years later The Warning have supported Muse and Guns N’ Roses, played the VMAs, and become the most convincing argument going that guitar bands are not finished.

Paulina Villarreal is their drummer, one of their lead singers, and — increasingly — the reason people take them seriously as musicians rather than as a story.

Who is Paulina Villarreal?

Paulina Villarreal Vélez was born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2000, the middle of three sisters.

The Warning are Daniela (guitar and vocals), Paulina (drums and vocals) and Alejandra (bass and vocals). They started as children, went viral with a Metallica cover in 2014, and have spent the decade since methodically turning that into a career.

The records

XXI Century Blood (2017), Queen of the Murder Scene (2018), Error (2022) and Keep Me Fed (2024).

By 2023 they had supported Muse and Guns N’ Roses, performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, and become a genuine arena-support-slot band. Drumeo’s voters gave Paulina Rock Drummer Of The Year that year.

What Paulina Villarreal actually does

She drums and sings lead, at the same time, on heavy material. This is the headline and it deserves to be. Singing a full lead vocal over a hard rock drum part is one of the hardest things anyone does on a stage, and she does it on songs with genuinely busy drum arrangements.

She hits hard and plays clean. The Warning’s records have a tight, modern, articulate drum sound and she earns it.

She arranges. The drum parts on Error and Keep Me Fed are written, not defaulted to — there are odd-length phrases, sudden drops and section markers all over them.

She runs the show technically. Two Roland KT-10 trigger pedals under the kit start and stop the stems and click in Ableton Live. In a three-piece with no backing musicians, the drummer is also the show’s operator.

She is a rock drummer, not a pop one. No apology, no compromise, and the band is heavier live than on record.

Paulina Villarreal’s drum kit

She has, by her own account, been on the same brands since she was six.

• Drums — DW. Collector’s Series and Performance Series kits, including an 18”x16” floor tom in the live rig.
• Snare — a Ludwig Black Beauty. The classic hammered-brass drum, and the reason her backbeat cuts through two very loud sisters.
• Cymbals — Sabian, largely HHX.
• Heads — Remo. Controlled Sound X Coated on the snare and Powerstroke P4 Clear on the toms: both controlled, modern, close-miked choices with the ring taken out.
• Sticks — Vic Firth, pink.
• Electronics — two Roland KT-10 trigger pedals, running into a MacBook Pro and Ableton Live.

Every era, with buy links, is on Paulina Villarreal’s Rig Vault page.

Want the sound without the rig?

Two of her choices are worth copying, and one is a genuinely clever idea.

Get a Black Beauty, or something like it. A hammered brass snare is loud, dark and cuts through anything. Our snare buying guide explains what brass does that steel does not.

Then use a trigger pedal as a footswitch. A KT-10 under the kit, mapped to start and stop playback, means a three-piece can run its own tracks without a laptop operator. It is one of the smartest small ideas in modern live rigs — our electronic drum kit guide covers the hardware side.

And the hard part: sing while you play. Start with a chorus you know, on a groove you could play asleep. It will take months. The Gear Guru will handle the shopping in the meantime.

Where to start listening

• “Choke” (2022). Error, and the drum arrangement to start with.
• “Automatic Sun” (2024). Her singing lead over a hard rock part.
• “Enter Sandman” (2014). The cover that started it, for the history.
• Any 2023 live footage. Supporting Guns N’ Roses, in a stadium, aged 23.

Final thoughts

The Warning’s story is easy to tell badly — three sisters, viral video, Metallica cover. The reason it has lasted is that all three of them became genuinely good, and Paulina in particular has grown into a rock drummer who would hold that chair in any band.

Doing it while singing lead is showing off. Fair enough.

See Paulina Villarreal’s full rig in the Rig Vault, or read about Anderson .Paak — the other drummer on this site who sings lead from behind the kit.