Among the more unexpected alt-rock reunions of the past few years is the return of That Dog, the Los Angeles foursome that put out three albums of sparklingly literate power pop in the mid-1990s, then vanished even as its pals Beck and Weezer went on to find huge mainstream success.
Now as then, the band includes three children of high-profile music types: Frontwoman Anna Waronker’s dad, Lenny, ran Warner Bros. and DreamWorks Records and produced some seminal West Coast singer-songwriter albums, including Randy Newman’s 12 Songs and Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks; the father of bassist Rachel Haden and violinist Petra Haden is the well-known jazz artist Charlie Haden. (Drummer Tony Maxwell’s parents are no doubt very nice.) Yet That Dog never seemed to benefit terribly from those associations; the group remained something of a cult favorite, which makes its reactivation as curious as it is welcome.
These concerts follow a handful of recent gigs in L.A. (one of which featured a surprise appearance by Tenacious D, whose Jack Black is married to another Haden sister) and are being billed rather grandly as That Dog’s first East Coast appearances in 15 years. Comedians will open both evenings: Portlandia and Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen on Thursday 24, Kurt Braunohler and Baron Vaughn on Friday 25.—Mikael Wood