Shortly after all of these releases, Kevin Lenear quit the band to work on his own material and was replaced by Roman Fleysher. Founding member Nate Albert also left in order to obtain a degree in political theory from Brown University. His next musical venture would be as a member of Evan Dando’s re-formed Lemonheads before forming The Kickovers, which focused more on a 1970's punk sound than ska. Albert eventually became involved in band management, handling bands such as Bayside and Lost City Angels. Albert's replacement on guitar was Lawrence Katz. In 2000, the band released "Pay Attention" which failed to meet expectations set by the previous album. "So Sad to Say", was released as a single, but it never reached a position higher than No. 22 on the "Billboard" charts. Ultimately, the album did not sell as well as their previous release. This was to be the band's last album with Mercury Records, who along with Polygram, had become part of the Universal Music Group who subsequently merged Island Records and Def Jam Recordings forming the new Island Def Jam label. The band, unhappy with the way the newly formed label had been handling them, asked for a release from their contract, to which the label agreed. "Pay Attention" was also the last album for Dennis Brockenborough who had already formed his own band, Chubby, for which he sang and played guitar. Brockenborough's replacement was former Spring Heeled Jack member, Chris Rhodes. Spring Heeled Jack had dissolved in 2000, and Rhodes had recently taken a vacant trombone position with Bim Skala Bim when he received the invitation to join. The band soon announced their return to an independent label when they signed with SideOneDummy Records. In July 2002, the band released "A Jackknife to a Swan" and from it the song "You Gotta Go!" was released as a single and video. The band continued to tour but in December 2003, they announced their decision to go on a hiatus and were forced to forgo that year's Hometown Throwdown. One contributing factor was that several band members were reported to already be busy with other bands and side projects. Another factor was that the band had been touring, almost non-stop, since 1991, and some of the band members desired a break. On September 12, 2004, the band performed along with other punk rock groups in a tribute concert for Johnny Ramone, in which the proceeds were given to support cancer research.