Les Savy Fav is a New York City indie rock band. Their style is influenced by art rock. The group is known for the explicit stage presence of their lead singer Tim Harrington.
The group's original line-up, formed in 1995, all met while attending the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Live shows are punctuated by the antics of frontman Harrington, including kissing multiple audience members and on-stage wardrobe changes. The rest of the band continues to play as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Guitar player Gibb Slife soon left the band after their debut. Drummer Mahoney was replaced by Harrison Haynes. The band started a planned hiatus in mid-2005, which led to speculation that they might have broken up, but lead Harrington confirmed that Les Savy Fav would return, & indeed they did, playing a live performance at the British All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2007. The band booked studio time in November 2006 to record their fourth full length, Let's Stay Friends, which was released September 18, 2007. The band is running a video contest on YouTube for "The Equestrian," a song from their new album. Andrew Reuland joined the band in 2006 as the second guitar player. The band performed "Patty Lee" live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on January 31, 2008. Their song "Hold Onto Your Genre" is featured in the soundtrack to MLB 2K7, as well as commercials for the game. Bass player Syd Butler is also the owner of French Kiss Records. Seth Jabour is also known for his work as an illustrator and graphic designer. Former drummer Pat Mahoney plays currently in LCD Soundsystem. The Derry/London based band Jetplane Landing included a song on their 2007 album Backlash Cop entitled "Why Do They Never Play Les Savy Fav On The Radio?"
Music Style
Initially their music featured an abrasive sound fitting in the noise rock genre and reminiscent of the music of Fugazi. Later on their music became more idiosyncratic shifting to a more radio friendly sound more closely to the sound of befriended bands Bloc Party and Enon. Members of the latter band contributed to several tracks of the band.
Studio albums
* 3/5 (1997, Self-Starter Foundation)
* The Cat and the Cobra (1999, French Kiss Records/Self-Starter Foundation)
* Go Forth (2001, French Kiss Records)
* Let's Stay Friends (2007, French Kiss Records)
Live albums
* After the Balls Drop, (2008, Frenchkiss) (Digital-only release)
Singles
* SubPop7, Sub Pop, 1997
* 7 on DeSoto Records
* Split Single, with The Apes and The Mars Volta; Les Savy Fav contribute Four Divided by One (2002, Southern Records)
* Accidental Deaths, features Hit by Car and Hit by Train (2006, Rococo Records)
* Plagues & Snakes; Australian Tour EP, features Raging in the Plague Age and Wake Up a Snake (2006, PopFrenzy Records)
* What Would Wolves Do?, features What Would Wolves Do? and The Year Before The Year 2000 (2007, Wichita Records)
* Patty Lee, features Patty Lee and The Sweat Descends (2008, Wichita Records)
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