in place of Cox. In September 2006, the band rented practice space and began writing material for what would become Holding a Wolf by the Ears. Brian McTernan was chosen as producer because he had previously worked with Mark and Newton on their side project Biology's album, and the members opted for this release to have a less refined feel than the last albums. As From Autumn to Ashes prepared to begin studio recording for the album, Mark noted that Perri "never came out to any of the practices and he had no involvement. But that was also the way it was when we wrote Abandon Your Friends." Perri had then declared that he would no longer be a part of the band. As Mark explains, "I thought there was a more considerate way he could have gone about leaving the band", but it was ultimately "cool of him to recognize that he just didn't have the passion for the band anymore." Deciding to move on without Perri as a member, Mark then became lead vocalist, providing both clean and screaming vocals in addition to his already recorded drums. Mark, as the band's lyricist explained that he "work[ed] very hard and writing and revising very personal lyrics" and found that a part of him did not want to hand over the lyrics to another to sing, however, with Perri's departure and when Mark began recording vocal tracks, "It immediately seemed like that’s the way things had been all along". Mark stated the bulk of the album's lyrics had been "just about living" and "the idea that extremes are dangerous." Recorded in about a month's time, Holding a Wolf by the Ears was named for the quotation by Thomas Jefferson, "But as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." Reviewer Drew Beringer of Absolute Punk had praised the change in the band's line up, stating that "Mark is three times the front man Perri was", and gave "passion that had been severely lacking while Perri was in the band." In early 2007, the band began auditioning drummers to take Mark's place in the upcoming tours. Initially looking for a temporary member, From Autumn to Ashes would remain a quartet if they did not get along with the drummer.