refused to play a show in California

The band projected an enigmatic presence to the public. While supporting Diary , the band allowed only one publicity photo and granted just a single interview (though, strangely, the band posed for an advertisement for department-store chain Nordstrom ). In a 1998 interview with Norm Arenas of Texas Is the Reason , Hoerner explained that the band made up a fake band name and brought in a fake lead singer for the ad shoot, only to have the store stick their real band name on the ad. For most of its early days, the band also refused to play a show in California , for reasons that were never fully explained. When the band was asked to perform at the 1994 Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles for radio station KROQ , Hoerner refused to join them, leaving Enigk, Mendel, and Goldsmith to perform the show as a trio.