Sometime in 2000, the band parted ways with bassist Perry Richardson due to personal conflict and hired Bruce Waibel, who had played in The Gregg Allman Band for 10 years. Leverty met Waibel in Sarasota, Florida and was impressed with his bass guitar skills. When the band had an opening for a bassist due to Richardson's departure, Leverty contacted Waibel and asked him to join the band. With Waibel, they recorded their next album, "O2", and toured on the Metal Edge 2002 tour with Dokken, Ratt, Warrant, and LA Guns. After the twelve-week tour, Waibel parted ways with the band to spend more time with his family. In 2003, Waibel died unexpectedly at age 45. Guitarist Bill Leverty expressed the band's sadness over his death in a statement shortly after the news broke. Initially, Waibel was replaced by Brazilian Dario Seixas, who played bass on the band's 2003 critically acclaimed album "Prime Time", but Seixas left the band shortly after, so the band announced that they were in need of a bass player. Allen McKenzie, who was playing bass for Jani Lane's solo project at the time, sent in his audition tape, and the band agreed that he was the right musician for the job.