Just prior to the release of "No Muss...No Fuss", the band began to split into different directions. Drummer Kevin Valentine and bassist Albritton McClain left to join a new group, the Innocent, whose members included future Nine Inch Nails main man Trent Reznor. The two were replaced by Scott Alan Williamson on bass and Tommy Rich on drums. That same year, keyboardist Mark Avsec released a solo project under the moniker Cellarful of Noise. Even after releasing the eponymous debut album that same year, "Cellarful of Noise", Avsec and Iris maintained that Donnie Iris and the Cruisers was still their main focus, and that they wanted to continue to release new albums with the band and its new line-up. The band returned to the studio in 1986 and recorded a new album titled "Cruise Control"; however, a lawsuit with the band's former label MCA resulted in the shelving of that album pending the resolution of the lawsuit. The album itself has still not been released as of 2020, although six tracks from it appeared on 1992's "Out of the Blue" and a cover of "Reach Out" recorded during the "Cruise Control" sessions appeared on the 1989 compilation "WDVE Pittsburgh Rock & Roll '89". Also around this time, the HME label that the band had signed with to record "No Muss...No Fuss" went out of business, leaving Donnie Iris and the Cruisers an unsigned act.