The grandfather of Anna Waronker was Simon “Si” Waronker who, after fleeing Nazi Germany, was a violinist and orchestra contractor with the 20th Century Fox Orchestra until 1955 when he co-founded and was chairman of one of the most successful and important independent record labels, Liberty Records. Her father, Lenny Waronker was a songwriter, producer and eventually became the president of Warner Bros. Records and co-Chair of DreamWorks Records, known for his attention to the quality of the music and commitment to artists. Her mother was singer/actress Donna Loren. Her older brother Joey Waronker is a noted session drummer, songwriter and producer. What does any of that have to do with Anna Waronker herself? It illustrates that from birth, Anna has been surrounded by people involved in both the artistic and business sides of the music game. It shows that by the time Anna started writing songs with high school friend Jenni Konner and then brought in friends Petra Haden on violin, Rachel Haden on bass guitar and Tony Maxwell on drums, that she had a much stronger, broader sense of putting music together and sending it out to others than most her age might have. But beyond that, pedigree means nothing. It was Waronker’s intrinsic drive and ability that led her to the roles of primary songwriter, lead singer and lead guitarist for that dog..

Waronker and that dog. put out three albums from 1992 through 1997: that dog., Totally Crushed Out! and Retreat From the Sun. The last album was originally going to be a solo album for Waronker, but she was pressured by A&R people at their label to have that dog. record it instead. Following a fairly mismatched US tour with label mates Blur, The Wallflowers and Counting Crows, that dog. disbanded in September 1997.

Waronker married Steve McDonald of Redd Kross. This made her sister-in-law to Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Gos who was married to Steve’s twin brother Jeff. The four of them worked on various projects under the name Ze Malibu Kids. At the same time, Waronker put out her first solo album, 2002’s Anna and provided two songs to the soundtrack of the movie “Josie And The Pussycats”. Later, she wrote a number of songs that had been featured in the show “Dawson’s Creek”. In 2011, she put our her second solo album California Fade.

In 2011/2012, that dog. got together for reunion shows. By 2016, they had set up a Kickstarter page to help finish their first album in 19 years. After receiving $35,550 pledged on a request for $17,500, they got to work slowly but surely and after 22 years, they released their new album, Old LP on October 4, 2019.