For Record Store Day 2013, the band teamed up with Grouplove and Frightened Rabbit to release a 12-inch containing the tracks “Make It to Me” and “Architect”.
On January 27, 2011, the band announced that their third full-length studio album, Simple Math , would be released on May 10, 2011. It was also revealed that Simple Math would be a concept album.
In autumn 2011, the band headlined the PacTour and were supported by White Denim , The Dear Hunter and Little Hurricane .
In the summer of 2011, the band joined Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance for part of the 2011 Honda Civic Tour.
On October 23, 2010, during an appearance at Radio 104.5 in Philadelphia, following a Bad Books show in support of their recently released self-titled debut album, Manchester Orchestra debuted an acoustic version of the new album’s title track, “Simple Math”.
In September 2010, in an interview with Rip It Up magazine, the band announced that they were in the middle of recording their third full-length album, and explained it to be completely different from anything they had released in the past.
On August 16, 2010, it was announced that the self-titled Bad Books album would be released on October 19, 2010, digitally and on November 9, 2010, on a physical CD.
On April 10, 2010, it was announced the new project’s name as Bad Books and that the album would be released under that moniker.
In March 2010, Hull mentioned in an interview with the Dallas Observer that the band had begun work on a follow-up to 2009’s Mean Everything to Nothing , tentatively titled Let Go of Your Sorrowful Groaning .
The EP was released digitally January 26, 2010.