The band never found mainstream success but their energetic and irreverent live shows earned them legendary status amongst their peers as well as their fans.
They gained a strong local reputation around this time and in the years to follow for their wildly energetic and often unpredictably goofy live shows.
Guitarist Mark Kale parted ways with the group to form a new band known as The ICK with Tom Patterson of Slingshot Dakota.
To keep their full sound, they recruited James Alex Snyder (future singer/guitarist in Beach Slang) for 2nd guitar and backup vocals.
Entitled A Real Life Story of Teenage Rebellion, the record showed the band's shift to a decidedly more pop-punk sound with lyrics that matched the theme hinted at in the title.
Weston and Saltern shared almost equal time as lead vocalist, and the vocal harmonies greatly increased, becoming one of the band's strongest qualities.
Following the release of the album, guitarist Chris Benner quit the group to form his own band, Digger, and Weston took over his spot on guitar rather than find a replacement.
The band released a single of new material and a collection of vinyl-only tracks entitled Splitsville before parting with Gern and heading to Go Kart Records.
The album had a near-linear story and was meant to unfold like the plot of a movie, as evidenced by the projector sounds bookending the music and the liner notes arranged like a script.
The band's sense of humor was still very present in the liner notes, but the music began to take a more serious turn, which disappointed some longtime fans.
A single was released for the tribute song "Liz Phair" which was featured in EA's 1999 video game, Street Sk8er, and "Bus Stop" appeared in demo form on a local PA compilation.
Their live shows were tighter and more professional than ever, though still retaining some of the old silliness, but the songs were mostly unknown due to the record's unavailability and the band's popularity quickly waned.
[3] It contained re-recordings of several songs from Return to Mono, including the tracks "Radio" and "Liz Phair", which had already appeared on both the previous album and Matinee.
James Alex Snyder formed the band Cordova, following up on much of the sound he'd pushed for on later Weston recordings.
On April 4, 2008, Weston performed a reunion show in Philadelphia at the Khyber with The Ergs, the Sw!ms, and Brian McGee & The Hollow Seed.
James Snyder confirmed that the band has entered the studio to record a new album which was intended for release by the end of 2011.