Following their fifth album – 1998's appropriately-titled "Gorky 5", which was released on Fontana's sister label Mercury Records – the band were dropped by Fontana. They quickly signed to Mantra Recordings (a division of the Beggars' Banquet label). In 1999, Gorky's released their first album for Mantra, "Spanish Dance Troupe". This would be the last Gorky's album to feature input from founder member John Lawrence, who left the group during the recording sessions. Richard James took on Lawrence's former role of main guitarist, and Gorky's also recruited former Ffa Coffi Pawb member Rhodri Puw as a sideman to play guitar and bass guitar on tour. In 2000, Gorky's appeared with John Cale in a movie called "Beautiful Mistake", in which they performed 1994 album track "O Caroline II". In the same year, the band released an acoustic mini-album called "The Blue Trees" in 2000, after which drummer Euros Rowlands left Gorky's to take up a career in teaching.