 After taking a five @-@ month hiatus at the beginning of 2006 , From Autumn to Ashes returned and played the length of the 2006 Vans Warped Tour , adding Rob Lauritsen 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 <unk> 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 . " 
