Les Savy Fav
Les Savy Fav |
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Les Savy Fav (pronounced lay-SAH-vee-FAHV) is a New York City indie rock band. Their style is influenced by art rock and post-hardcore. The group is known for the explicit stage presence of their lead singer Tim Harrington.
Biography
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 [1], and 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 2007 as the second guitar player.[2][3]. The band performed 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.
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.
Discography
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)
EPs
- Rome (written upside down) EP, (2000, Southern)
Live albums
- After the Balls Drop, (2008, Frenchkiss) (Digital-only release)
Compilations
- Repopulation Program, Les Savy Fav contribute Raise Buildings. (1996, Load Records)
- This Is Next Year: A Brooklyn-Based Compilation, Les Savy Fav contribute No Sleeves. (2001, Arena Rock Recording Co.)
- Inches, a compilation of singles from 1995-2004 (2004, Frenchkiss - re-released 2008 on Wichita Recordings)
- Warm & Scratchy, Les Savy Fav contribute The Equestrian. (2007, Adult Swim)
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)
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (November 2007) |
- 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?"
- Their song "The Sweat Descends" appears on the online rhythm game Audition Online and on the soundtrack to College Hoops 2K7. It also was recently covered by the indie rock band Art In Manila, led by former Azure Ray member, Orenda Fink on their 2007 album, Set The Woods On Fire.
- "The Equestrian" is featured in the soundtrack to NHL 2K8.
- Tim Harrington disguised himself as a mosquito for the nothing but nets campaign video.
- Their song Raging in the Plague Age appears in Grand Theft Auto 4 on ingame radio station Radio Broker.
- [4] In 2007, Tim Harrington acted in a skit for AOL's The DL where he interviewed for a job at AOL.
- Harrington's involved lyrics make references to topics as Stockholm syndrome, the architects of Carthage, and palimpsests.
Sources
- bio on VH1
- Les Savy Fav @ Epitonic