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Yeah their dad posted some videos to YT so family members could hear & see them, and Enter Sandman blew up to over 25 million views, which got them noticed by Kirk Hammett ("The drummer kicks maximum ass!"), an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres, and scholarships to Berklee (Pau and Ale were technically too young to attend and had to send audition tapes... needless to say they passed).This is where I first saw them.
They've come a long way!
What drew me in was seeing the live performances. There's an authenticity to them that I appreciate. They are who they are, they're not faking it.
The songwriting is top notch. Hooks left and right, use of dynamics, constant modulation of technique to propel the song, songs within songs, diversity of sounds/style, etc.
The songwriting is top notch. Hooks left and right, use of dynamics, constant modulation of technique to propel the song, songs within songs, diversity of sounds/style, etc.
Thanks for sharing. I've been following them since 2017. Great band and even better people. Ale is a great rock bassist and at 19 has accomplished quite a bit already in her career.
On a Spector-related note, Ale is the 2nd youngest bassist to be added as a Spector featured artist and is on the top banner of the Spector Artist home page (alongside Alex Webster and Ian Hill). The bass she's playing in the above shot is a one-off NS-5XL with some extra appointments (custom finish which Spector later started offering for US custom shop basses, referred to as 'Ale's Inferno'), the band's lightning bolt logo on the 3rd fret and her signature on the back.
Ale has been playing Spectors live exclusively since 2018 and for a good number of their recordings since then. Her current main bass is a hyperblue NS-5XL (I own the NS-4 version which was a part of the original Woodstock collection).
Curious, are you just a fan or do you have some connection to them?
There are quite a number of us here who are basically big fans. She does have her own TB thread going if you want to dig a little deeper.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/alejandra-villarreal-18-yr-old-bassist-with-the-warning.1597594/
I bought my one and only Spector from her last summer. I flew over the pond this July to see them play in Nottingham, Liverpool, and Dublin. Was on the rail for two of those shows. Funny how I always end up on Ale's side of the stage. I was pretty transfixed watching her technique during the Liverpool show. She is still only 19, but so much experience and skill. I grew up on Rush, Yes, Steely Dan, and others and had lost touch with rock over the past 25 years until I found The Warning. Totally on board now.
Off course he would say that - poor Kirk, being stuck with Lars all these years!
Just a fan. I discovered them June of last year, killing time on YouTube with videos of cover bands like Lexington Lab, Leonid & Friends, Hindley Street CC, and stumbled across the "Enter Sandman" clip posted by Relayer71 above. That led me to their originals and I was hooked... I burned airline and hotel points like three days later to catch a show in Indianapolis!
They've done a great job of building "The Warning Army" fanbase via social media - Patreon, Discord, Kickstarter, etc. If a YouTube "reactor" covers one of their song, there's a link on the Discord within literally five minutes and fans "evangelize" in the comments section!
After I finally gave a couple of listens to them it was the things you've mentioned here that led me to checking out more videos. After that I was done with them and my curiosity done with, I thought to myself.
Then the problem of songs running in my head that I couldn't identify where I'd heard them, before eventually realizing it was them, and I had to search out songs whose titles I had absolutely no idea of, starting with Disciple, Hell You Call a Dream, Dust to Dust, When I'm Alone and a few of their covers, particularly The Pretender, some silly Katy Perry song and both of their versions of Enter Sandman.
Absolutely a huge fan of the simple but solid bass playing, same with the drumming, but especially the singing by both Paulina and Daniela, not to mention how competently Daniela plays non-cut and dried guitar parts, while also being so precise with her singing parts. Whew!
And to top it off, almost every aspect of their songwriting which you addressed so well in your post.
Here's a better picture of my new Ethos 5. My wife finally went out for a while so I could spend a bit more time with it. (I snuck it in the house Tuesday and she hasn't noticed yet. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than get permission LOL!) The Agular pickups and pre-amp sound great. I'm hearing zero hiss thru my Fender Stage 800 with the bass's treble control cranked 100%.
Can anyone attest to swapping out the darkglass pre for the Bart NTMB or something similar to it on a a Spector Euro Lt with Bart pickups? I'm hoping this gives me the tone im after. More hi fi more clear a cutting and not so boomy. I've never swapped a pre an I hate having to throw more money into it but the darkglass Tc isn't working for me just not my cup of tea
Is this the new darkglass one they put in? I got stuck with the one with the wheel in cavity an im not enjoying this preamp at all but I can tell the bass is great I'm wonderifn what a pre swap to like the Bart NTMB would sound like an if it would be more my styleI've dug into my CST a bit more, this is my daily practice bass and just love the feel of this super thin neck! My NS5 only comes out on the weekend for gigs.
The CST sounds really good, a bit better now that I've tweaked pickup heights on the treble side of the P and J. I'm now getting much better response/tone on upper frets since the tweak and making minor EQ adjustments on the bass.
It sounds great at home, but that's never been an issue… it was in a live band setting where I felt like upper notes were a little buried. Maybe I'll give it another try this weekend.
Here's a picture of the DG preamp if anyone is interested in the control cavity view.
View attachment 7014148
I love all that. But it's tttooo punchy for me I' play jam band stuff so it's really a mix of all generas so I just think it hits to low it's not bad at all as I make it sound. I'm a tone snob BUT I will say like others notice it to like it's just not cutting enough an is to boomy for funk an like growl it's got great bass an mid but for me lacks clarity an high end treble or cut.
The answer is EMGs and a LHZ. You won't regret it
I've played on those & your def right. I wouldn't but I just don't want to throw so much more money into the bass I spent so much on. BUT if a new preamp would help I mean " I think" the Barts in came with are solid I feel like it might be the preamp? This is what's been the rough call to make
Funny, I hated the Bart pre in my Euro and swapped it for an EMG, then swapped the EMG pickups and pre for Nordstrands pickups and a Darkglass pre.
I personally didn't like the low center frequency of the Bart pre.
If you don't want boomy, I wouldn't go Bart pre. I find the center of their low boost to be too low. The ntmb 3 band has bass centered at 30 hz, I usually have a hpf cutting off the bass around there.
I really like the LHZ preamp and I'm super curious how it would react with passive pickups. You should buy one, and let me know
Then I might throw one in a Sadowsky metro express bass I got recently
What ya mean? The only reason Im thinking Bart pre is for the Bart pups I have an then I'm okay with having a vintage tone with growl like hi fi Pbass but I would love to get the EMG haz or laz I just don't want to spend that mucb after spending what I have already on it
Have you tried light overdrive? It typically tames boomy low end, and it's basically what a HAZ or clone let's you do, albeit with finger dynamics.
I've got a NS Pulse with an EMG pre. I'll used a light, sparkly, transparent overdrive on it to get that growly Spector, cut the mix tone. My Spector with the LHZ does that without a pedal.
Bypass your onboard preamp and rent some pedal preamps to explore, in addition to exploring the pick ups passive. See where you truly stand with the pick ups.
