During the hiatus, Bidini and Clark played a number of shows as supporting musicians for the recently reunited Three O'Clock Train.

Clark has stated in interviews that he left because he was uncomfortable with the chart success of "Claire" and feared that the rest of the band would be persuaded to evolve in a mainstream direction.

This album garnered airplay for the single "Bad Time to Be Poor," a scathing indictment of life in Ontario during the government of Mike Harris.

[4] On August 31, 1997 the group performed a live session for the last episode of Night Lines, a music show on CBC Radio Two.

[4] The reasons given were his desire to focus on his work at Gas Station Recording Studios in Toronto, as well as his role in Ron Sexsmith's group.

[4] Performances from these shows were included on their sole DVD release, 2003's Maple Serum: Rheostatics Live at the Horseshoe Tavern.

On March 30, 2012, the fifth anniversary of the group's final show at Massey Hall, a live album, Green Sprouts Music Week 1993 was released.

The album is a distillation and resequencing of material drawn from the band's first Green Sprouts Music Week, held from April 12 to 18, 1993 at Ultrasound Showbar in Toronto.

Two singles, live versions of "Record Body Count" and "Woodstuck", were released in digital format and also sent to radio stations.

Tim Vesely publicly announced his departure from the band on September 8, 2006, citing his desire to concentrate on his side project The Violet Archers.

After it was revealed that Vesely would be leaving, Bidini embarked on a solo tour and chronicled his experience in the 2007 book Around the World in 57½ Gigs.

On March 16, 2007, Canadian web label Zunior released a Rheostatics tribute album, The Secret Sessions, which had not been publicized in advance so that it would be a surprise for the band.

The first of such projects was a musical-theatre piece entitled Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica, produced in collaboration with One Yellow Rabbit.

[16] Rheostatics announced three reunion concerts to take place on December 5 and 6, 2012 with a lineup of Bidini, Clark, Tielli and Vesely to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.

The shows were ultimately cancelled nine days prior to the planned dates due to Martin Tielli's inability to perform.

The owner of Six Shooter Records (the band's label) indicates that Tielli told her it was due to his long-time battle with stage fright.

[17] On April 12, 2014, Rheostatics (Bidini, Kerr, Tielli, Vesely) performed with Bidiniband and various guests as part of the 2nd Annual Stompin' Tom Memorial Show at the Horseshoe Tavern.

On September 4, 5 and 6, 2015, Rheostatics (Bidini, Kerr, Tielli, Vesely) with Kevin Hearn, plus guest Hugh Marsh performed the album Music Inspired by the Group of Seven in its entirety at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

On April 29, 2016, Rheostatics (Bidini, Kerr, Tielli, Vesely) with Kevin Hearn and Hugh Marsh performed at Massey Hall.

On August 27, 2016, Rheostatics (Bidini, Kerr, Tielli, Vesely) with Kevin Hearn and Hugh Marsh headlined at the Harvest Picnic festival (Christie Lake, Ontario).

On December 9 and 10, 2016, Rheostatics (Bidini, Clark, Tielli, Vesely, Hearn, Marsh) performed at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, where five new songs were debuted: "Mountains and the Sea" (Bidini), "Music is the Message" (Vesely), "Chemical Valley" (Hearn), "Albatross" (Tielli) and "It's the Super Controller!"

Tielli's material tended toward progressive rock and folk rock, Bidini brought quirky humour and new wave influences, Vesely pursued a relatively mainstream pop-rock orientation which meant that his songs (including both "Claire" and "Bad Time to Be Poor") garnered nearly all of the band's radio airplay, and Clark's songs were punk-flavoured.

"[2] In a 1996 reader poll published by Chart to determine the 100 best Canadian albums, Whale Music placed fifth, behind only Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Tragically Hip and Sloan.

[21] The official illustration of the group, by Trevor Waurechen, depicts Bidini, Clark, Hearn, Kerr, Tielli, Vesely and Wojewoda.