At the conclusion of a 1993 tour of Australia, Japan, and Europe, the group held a meeting in a hotel room in Copenhagen during which Malkmus, Kannberg and Ibold remained silent while Nastanovich (Young's best friend at the time) argued with the drummer and informed him that his antics were unnecessary. Young ultimately agreed to leave the band. He was replaced by Steve West, who had been a fellow museum security guard at the Whitney Museum of American Art along with Malkmus and David Berman. West's debut performance was in 1993 at a Drag City festival in Chicago. Also that same year, the band contributed to the AIDS-Benefit Album "No Alternative" produced by the Red Hot Organization with their song "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence".