Thomason decided to leave the band to stay in Indiana, and the group toured as a three-piece for a short while.

Davenport shared a small rehearsal space on East Haley Street with his friend Marco Peña, who was in a different band.

One day at the rehearsal space, Roe and Davenport heard the drummer of Peña's band, Chris Knapp, playing and immediately asked him to join the Ataris.

They then found more success with their 1998 EP Look Forward to Failure, released on San Francisco punk label Fat Wreck Chords.

However, it wasn't until the release of Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits in 1999 that they started to gain widespread acclaim.

Later that year, they began recording their fourth full-length album and major label debut, So Long, Astoria, released on March 4, 2003.

Produced by Lou Giordano, the album's production served as a stark contrast to any of the band's past releases, as previous efforts were recorded in short time spans between tours.

So Long, Astoria was widely credited for introducing the Ataris to a larger mainstream audience and generating several successful singles, including "In This Diary" and "The Saddest Song".

Musically, the album showcased very personal, encrypted and slightly more optimistic songwriting with a more refined, straightforward rock sound, not unlike Jimmy Eat World.

This album also included their hit cover song, originally recorded by Don Henley, "The Boys of Summer", which much to the dismay of the band became their "accidental" second single after the radio station KROQ in Los Angeles started playing it, even though the band had already chosen the song "My Reply" as their second single.

After a number of personal, financial and artistic differences, this line-up decided to go its separate ways over the summer and fall of 2004.

Details regarding the departures of Knapp and Davenport have been kept quiet for sometime, and neither camp has appeared interested in fueling any public debate or ill-will.

Looking for some time off, Roe headed back to Indiana while Collura, Farriella moved back to New York; though they would later regroup to begin the recordings of the band’s next album After some time off, Roe and Collura later moved forward and began writing songs that would become part of the follow-up to So Long, Astoria titled Welcome the Night.

These sessions led to three members of Park Ranger joining the Ataris: Sean Hansen on bass, Shane Chickeles on drums, and Paul Carabello on third guitar.

To round out the lineup they added longtime friends Bob Hoag, formerly of Pollen and the Go Reflex (which was managed by Roe), on piano and keyboards, and Angus Cooke on cello.

Starting in 2005, the band began recording Welcome the Night at Seedy Underbelly in California, with producer Nick Launay.

[23] Between February and April 2010, the Ataris went on a cross-country US tour with Don't Panic, and then performed at the Windy City Sound Clash festival.

From 2013, the Ataris began a North American tour with Kris Roe as singer and the former members John Collura, Mike Davenport and Chris Knapp to celebrate the 10 years of their most successful album So Long, Astoria.

In 2024, Kris Roe posted via the Ataris' Facebook page that the band is currently in the studio with producer and former drummer Bob Hoag to record the next album.

[28][29] While performing in Asbury Park, New Jersey on October 7, 2012, frontman Kris Roe, acted hostile towards then-drummer Rob Felicetti on stage.