The Warning's Paulina Villarreal Lands Modern Drummer Magazine Cover

Paulina "Pau" Villarreal Vélez, the 24-year-old drummer for Monterrey sister trio The Warning, landed the cover of Modern Drummer's April 2026 issue, Volume 50, Number 4, shot by Alex Kluft. The feature, written by Mark Griffith, arrives on the heels of "Keep Me Fed," The Warning's 2024 album that has racked up roughly 156 million streams and cemented the band as one of rock's most compelling acts working right now. For anyone behind a kit, this cover matters beyond the milestone: Villarreal's playing contains at least three things worth actively stealing.

The groove to learn first is the one she lays down on "S!CK," the second track on "Keep Me Fed." The song alternates between a propulsive, high-tempo verse and a locked-in chorus pocket. What makes it teachable is its restraint: Pau holds the energy with her foot rather than burying the track in fills. Set a metronome to around 130 BPM, build the verse pattern with your hi-hat doing the heavy lifting, then drop into a half-time feel on the chorus. It immediately reveals whether your kick foot is actually steady or just getting by.

The harder concept to wrestle with is the coordination demand she lives in every night: singing lead vocals while drumming at full intensity. Kirk Hammett of Metallica called her playing out when she was just twelve years old, and she has only compounded that ability with a second instrument layered on top. This is a skill with a beginner entry point. Start by humming the melody of whatever you are already comfortable playing, not singing full lyrics, just humming. Separate the two tasks first, then merge them. Most hobby drummers stall because they try to add vocals at full volume before the groove is truly automatic.

On gear, Villarreal plays a DW Performance Series kit with a Ludwig Black Beauty snare and Sabian HHX cymbals. Her most identifiable cymbal choice is the 18" HHX Evolution O-Zone Crash, which cuts through the mix with a fast, slightly dark wash. If that price point is out of reach, the Sabian AAX 18" X-Plosion Crash sits in the same sonic neighborhood and runs significantly cheaper. The Black Beauty snare is a genuine investment piece, but a Pork Pie Pig Iron or a mid-range Pearl Free-Floating gets you that crisp, dry crack without the heirloom price tag.

Villarreal started drums at age six and has cited Neil Peart as her primary influence, which tracks once you hear how her parts are composed rather than just played. She won Modern Drummer's 2023 Readers Poll "Up and Coming" category and the 2023 Drumeo Rock Drummer of the Year award before this cover even happened. In 2021 she appeared on Latin Drummers magazine's cover; now she's on the flagship.

The full interview is available at moderndrummer.com and through Modern Drummer's digital subscription, which carries the complete 50-year catalog. If you want a practical on-ramp before reading a word of it, queue up "S!CK" and try to sing the chorus melody while keeping the verse pattern locked. That single exercise will tell you exactly where Pau is operating and exactly how much work you have in front of you.