Owning Up to Art

Back in the mid-’90s, singer-songwriter Anna Waronker and her cute-grrrl band with the difficult name, that dog., were darlings of their major label, Geffen-owned DGC. Now a solo artist, she can conduct a tour of her new label, Five Foot Two Records, without even leaving her living room couch.

“There’s the mail room,” giggles the 30-year-old daughter of veteran producer and record executive Lenny Waronker. She points to packages heaped by the fireplace of her Hollywood Hills home. “The A&R; room is over there,” she adds, indicating a dining table behind her. “This is the CEO’s office right here,” she continues, waving toward a computer and desk near the front window. “See? It’s even in the corner, with a view.”

The first release for the company, which Waronker co-owns with sister-in-law Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go’s, is her solo debut, “Anna by Anna Waronker.” Although more grown-up, the songs musically do recall the melodic pop and punk-flavored rock of that dog., which Waronker formed in 1991 with high school pals Petra and Rachel Haden, two children of jazz giant Charlie Haden. The band had a rocky breakup in 1997, but these days, Waronker says, the three women are friendly again, if not close.

Vulnerable and slightly goofy, that dog. released three albums preoccupied with crushes and puppy-love heartbreak. Waronker’s songs back then reflected a girlier aspect of the so-called “women in rock” movement, not totally raging like such acts as PJ Harvey and Bikini Kill, yet not all twirly like, say, folk-popper Natalie Merchant.

Although the deliberate preciousness of that dog. turned off some listeners, and its sales were never monumental, many critics were impressed by the emotional honesty in Waronker’s work. Her more sophisticated solo collection, which she wrote and produced, comes at a time when songcraft is being freshly appreciated by critics and listeners.

Waronker proves worthy of attention, adeptly shifting from the pristine, strings-infused ballad “John & Maria” to the swaggering kiss-off “Perfect Ten” to the waltz-like fear-of-depression number “Eat Me Alive.”

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“When I got into that dog., I didn’t consider myself a musician, a singer or a songwriter,” says Waronker, who was then 19. She gradually stopped seeing it as a lark and concluded that music was her calling. “After I started owning that identity, I really wanted to get into it with that mature mind.”

She had hoped to do it with that dog. The band’s final album, 1997’s “Retreat From the Sun,” was initially going to be Waronker’s solo debut. “I’d always wanted to do something [on my own], but I never wanted to compromise the band,” she says. “But after five years or so, it was like, ‘OK, I’ve gotta get this out.’ It ended up kind of making everything explode, because there was no balance.”

Now, Waronker’s version of a nice adult life is all about balance--or, really, balancing. In addition to starting the label, she has penned songs for such films as “Josie and the Pussycats” and various television shows. She also teamed with husband Steve McDonald, of Redd Kross fame, to co-produce such acts as Imperial Teen. And she’s of course promoting “Anna,” partly by planning a forthcoming tour with McDonald’s new band, SMG, which will release an EP on Five Foot Two in November.

Despite the hectic pace, she says, working for herself “keeps me incredibly centered. It was frustrating to create a piece of art and then have to promote it on somebody else’s word.” But, she stresses, her head for business comes more from her own experiences than from her dad.

“I never even saw him really as a businessman,” Waronker says. “He pulls all the strings, but he has--he’ll probably laugh at this--a really artistic vision, or he loves facilitating people’s artistic vision. I’m hoping to kind of follow in his footsteps.” Yet she says with a laugh, “Now I ask him for business advice, and he’s always like, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

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“Anna” pushed Waronker’s already intimate songwriting into truly personal territory. Although the emotions are specific, she deliberately leaves room for listeners’ interpretations. “My songwriting is so much for my own therapy and whatever, but I also feel like, if I’m gonna help people in the world, my way is through songwriting,” she says. “That’s a little hokey, but I like reaching out to people.”

Not that her initial intentions are always so noble. One batch of songs she wrote after that dog. split up was “just really heavy and harsh,” she admits. She played one for her brother, drummer Joey Waronker. “He said, ‘It’s great, but I don’t think you’re going to want to sing this song for five years in a row. Why don’t you write something a little more positive?’ ”

Annoyed, she huffed away and wrote “I Wish You Well” (which first appeared on the “Pussycats” soundtrack, sung by Letters to Cleo’s Kay Hanley). Now, however, Waronker is glad she adjusted her attitude.

“It’s better than every song being, like, ‘I’m mad at you, and you hurt my feelings,’ ,” she says. “And I hate to be corny, but I totally do wish them well.”

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Anna Waronker, with the Electromagnetic and Sara & Yves, plays Saturday at Spaceland, 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., Silver Lake, 9 p.m. $10. (323) 833-2843.