Friday Song: “Ritual”

Part of the fun of being a fan of the Warning has been observing their evolution as a music and media juggernaut. From three kids in a basement to a world-rattling rock act, the ascent has been earned.

Last week, I got to see them live for the second time.

Two representatives of Lava Records happened to join the table my little group was holding down before the band played at Pier 17 in New York City, and they confirmed what I’ve seen for myself and heard from others again and again — the Villarreal sisters of Dany, Pau, and Ale are just as nice as you’d expect and extremely hard-working, all without complaint. They inspire the reps to push.

One business aspect that escaped me is that the band is able to get top-notch concert movies, recordings, and videos done in a lower-cost market (Mexico). This helps them look and sound great while still being an emerging act on the world stage.

• It reminded me of the story of Oingo Boingo, the Danny Elfman-led band from the 1980s, which never became big east of the Mississippi because it was too expensive for a band their size to travel that far and tour. Economics and culture often mix.

The entire week was a prime example of the Warning machine in action. An email featuring a clever countdown clock teased an announcement at Noon Wednesday. This would be the title and imagery from their new album, Everything’s Falling, which comes out August 28th. They performed their only headlining US show the next evening in New York City, which I attended. And then, at midnight, they released the studio version and video for their newest song from the album, “Ritual.”

• Three days of keeping the fans fed and frenzied.

“Ritual” has been performed live a number of times at South American shows, all captured and shared online, but there was still a lot of excitement about the official releases of song and video.

As for hard-working, the band has been supporting Yungblud on his US tour. They played Boston on Tuesday, Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday, and then New York’s rooftop venue at Pier 17 on Thursday. Then, they were off to Atlanta for the weekend and a few more US shows, then to Europe soon after for headlining shows in Norway and Sweden.

They say to never meet your heroes. I did get to meet them briefly last week, and these young powerhouses prove that adage wrong. I asked them to sign our book because a chapter honors one of their songs, and Pau, the drummer, added a witty little remark to her signature I’ll treasure forever. They were really great.

Some heroes are well worth meeting.

Enjoy!

BONUS CONCERT FOOTAGE

Not from my phone, but from one nearby with great audio — and it’s of the song that inspired a chapter title in our upcoming book. (And, yes, Dany is a superb singer — heck, they all are.)