Malone left the band in 1966 to join the Frightened Trees, as the remaining members formed a new group out of the ashes of the Plagues, the Plain Brown Wrapper.

Malone later became a successful Hollywood movie director, whose 2008 horror thriller Parasomnia included "I've Been Through It Before", as well as other songs by the Plagues and other 1960s garage bands.

[3] In the fall of 1966, after Malone's departure, Decker, Nobach, and Hosley formed a new band out of the remnants of the Plagues that, with the addition of Scott Durbin and Steve Allen, became the Plain Brown Wrapper.

[3] With the intention of joining the film industry (long a dream of his), William Malone moved to California and got a job at Don Post Studios.

[3] He eventually became a successful film director of horror thrillers, such as House on Haunted Hill, Scared to Death, Creature and FeardotCom.