Their 2004 EP A Writer's Reference has sold over 60,000 copies to date,[2] after making a cameo appearance on MTV's The Real World: Austin.
[3] After several months of occasional touring, Halifax recorded their eleven-song debut album within a week in March 2003.
While Halifax's debut was much more reminiscent of the band's pop punk influences—namely "Taking Back Sunday" and The Starting Line—their new material showcased a more distinctive style, mainly because of the line-up changes they had undergone.
While Chlowitz was initially rumored to return, the vacant position on the bass was instead filled by temporary members or Hunau.
Drive-Thru re-released A Writer's Reference, which had only been sporadically available in record stores, to the general public in January 2005, with new artwork and a bonus track.
In between, Halifax appeared on MTV's The Real World: Austin alongside hellogoodbye in a series of episodes about the South by Southwest music festival.
Thanks to them, the album featured a much rawer sound, giving a slight nod to a variety of heavy metal acts (most notably in the song "Our Revolution", which lyrically and musically pays homage to Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart").
[citation needed] In the Summer of 2008 Halifax announced that they would be recording with Dwight Baker in Austin, Texas.
The band uploaded many pictures and videos of them in the studio to their MySpace and YouTube channel, as well as a demo song "Perfect Life".
[15] On April 5, Halifax released "Snakeslide" and "My Restless Heart", the first two songs from this forthcoming album, unmastered and unmixed.