[6] After independently releasing their third album Tear the Signs Down in 2010 and three singles – "Interstate", "Run & Hide" and "Cannot Be Saved",[7][8] the band began what was meant to be a temporary break while members concentrated on other projects.

[17] Whilst début single "Recover" did not chart, it had still gained them publicity and NME put the band on their new music tour, calling them "The sound of 2006".

Album track "On The Campaign Trail" was issued as the b-side on the CD single, whilst "Trophy Wives" was released on the vinyl.

The 12 track album was released on B-Unique Records on 19 June 2006 with a new single "Monster", and was supported by further tour dates.

Dom Gourlay of Drowned in Sound wrote "the unnecessary screeching of the keyboard player [was] just a tad irritating – bordering on the side of wanting to commit homicide – at the best of times"[23] whilst NME wrote "...screeching backing vocals, have made him sound like a new instrument all of its own".

[25] The Raoul EP, a collection of b-sides and songs which didn't make the final album was released on 17 July 2006.

Over Christmas 2006 the band wrote and recorded two new songs which would begin play next year on the NME Rock Tour 2007, titled "Steve McQueen" and "Revolution" (now known as "Secret Police").

Pennie confirmed in 2009 that there were no hard feelings and that he and his band Decimals were in the same Cardiff studio as The Automatic, working with the same people, he described the situation as "like seeing an ex-girlfriend" and that both he and his former bandmates are on good terms.

The band had already been at work before Pennie's departure and had around 10 songs already done,[44] two of which were "Steve McQueen" and "Secret Police", which both had been performed throughout 2007 on various tours.

[52][53] After the recording process was complete, the band drew up proposals for a concert in March, the band began a club tour, playing at smaller venues to "get up close" with the fans, supported by friends Viva Machine with the likes of Canterbury and Attack Attack also performing at select dates.

At The Asylum in Birmingham, the band confirmed "Magazines" to be the second single from This Is A Fix originally stating a release would happen in February 2009, however this date was scrapped.

[60] Since the start of 2009 the band began working in studio on new tracks, and by March had around 10 songs in various stages of development, some being demoed and some not.

[62][63] New track "Something Else" was made available to stream through the band's website on 6 August 2009, with a music video produced by Frost depicting touring in Ibiza, Poland, Dubai and Switzerland – and recording in Cardiff.

[64] New material was further teased in August through to October, with photos depicting the band working with a violinist and cellist, song title "Parasol" was also revealed.

[65] On 28 September 2009, the band announced a string of UK dates for November, which would coincide with the release of new single "Interstate".

[68] In October filming took place for single "Interstate" in Cardiff outside Chapter Arts Centre in front of a wood sculpture created by Alan Goulbourne.

[75] Tear the Signs Down was met by critics in a similar way to the band's previous releases, receiving both very positive and negative responses, Rock Sound awarded the album 9/10 believing it would "surely stand out as one of the finest British records of the year"[76] whilst magazine The Skinny critic Nick Mitchell wrote "It's difficult to imagine even their core audience (the Hollyoaks demographic) getting excited about this confused, weak album" awarding only a single star.

[83] Along with The Blackout and Young Guns the band were announced as part of the line-up for Funeral for a Friend's Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation dates in July 2010.

[85] On 24 December 2010 an unreleased cover of "New Sensation" by INXS from the This Is A Fix recording sessions was made available for streaming on SoundCloud.

Mullen formed Young Legionnaire with Bloc Party bassist Gordon Moakes, who released their debut album Crisis Works in 2011.

Frost formed a project called EFFORT with Radio 1 DJ Jen Long; the pair released a 3 track EP in 2010.

Mullen also joined Tom Bellamy's band Losers in recording their second record, East London band HorseFight and in later 2012 joined former The King Blues guitarist Jamie Jazz in forming Bleach Blood who released their debut EP The Young Heartbreakers Club in 2013.

On 6 May 2013, Radio 1 debuted a track by the band Continental Keys, which featured guitarist Frost and was fronted by Tom Jenkins of Straight Lines.

[91] During the band's debut release period of Not Accepted Anywhere they were often categorised as electro-disco-punk rock,;[92] at this point they were using more synthesiser keyboards, and had been compared to acts such as Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, and 'thrown in' with the indie rock scene of 2006, the band have even stated that the album was altered in the mixing process "When we were recording the first album there were some really heavy guitars going down but only the clean ones were used" a decision of the record label and producers involved with the album, some of these guitars parts were restored in the 2007 US release of Not Accepted Anywhere when it was re-released and re-mastered, the band at one point were even labelled as Glam rock, which former keyboardist Alex Pennie blamed NME for.

More recently since Pennie's departure new addition Paul Mullen uses a microKORG whilst James Frost continues to use an Alesis Micron, although fewer of the songs on This Is A Fix use a synthesiser as a predominant instrument.