Les Savy Fav

All Music Guide:

Playing sharp but engaging post-hardcore with complex melodic lines, edgy guitar figures, and plenty of eccentric wit (their name, for instance, sounds French, but doesn't mean anything), Les Savy Fav were formed in 1995 by five friends attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Vocalist Tim Harrington, guitarists Seth Thom Jabour and Gibb Slife, bassist Syd Butler, and drummer Patrick Mahoney began making music together during downtime from their studies, and they spent two years playing clubs along the East Coast before their reputation spread to Seattle, where Sub Pop Records invited the band to record a single. "Rodeo" b/w "Blackouts on Thursday" was released in the fall of 1997, and by the end of the year, the band completed a full-length album, 3/5, released by the independent Self-Starter Foundation label. Les Savy Fav's live shows drew growing audiences, thanks to their striking music and Harrington's over-the-top stage antics, which sometimes included remarkable costumes and friendly invasion of the audience's space.

For their second full-length effort, 1999's The Cat and the Cobra, the group opted to release their album through Frenchkiss Records, an independent label formed by bassist Butler. The second album also featured a new drummer, Harrison Haynes, who replaced Mahoney. In 2000, Les Savy Fav shrunk from a quintet to a quartet with the departure of guitarist Slife, and Go Forth, released in the fall of 2001, was their first full-length effort as a four-piece, following the well-received EP Emor: Rome Upside Down. In 2004, Les Savy Fav collected a number of their small-label singles on a compilation called Inches, and they maintained an increasingly busy schedule as a live act, busy enough that it was becoming difficult for Harrington, who was raising a family with his wife, and Butler, whose Frenchkiss label was enjoying success with the Hold Steady, Passion Pit, Local Natives, and many more.

In 2005, Les Savy Fav announced they were going on an indefinite hiatus, but their sabbatical didn't last very long. By late 2006, the band reconvened to begin recording a new album, and in May 2007 they returned to the stage at the British All Tomorrow's Parties festival. Let's Stay Friends was released by Frenchkiss in the fall of 2007, and received enthusiastic reviews; it also found the band welcoming a new guitarist, Andrew Reuland, and working with a number of guest musicians, including Toko Yasuda of Enon and Blonde Redhead, Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, and comedian and percussionist Fred Armisen. Les Savy Fav documented their strength as a live act with the digital-only concert LP After the Balls Drop (recorded at a New Year's Eve show that rang in 2008), and in the summer of 2010, they issued their fifth full-length studio album, Root for Ruin.

Wikipedia:

Les Savy Fav (pron.: /eɪ ˈɑː ˈɑː/ 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 stage presence of lead singer Tim Harrington. The band is signed to Frenchkiss Records, which is owned by the band's bassist, Syd Butler.

Biography [edit]

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 interacting with 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 left the band after their second LP. 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 Harrington confirmed that Les Savy Fav would return 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. 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. Furthermore, their song "Raging in the Plague Age" is featured on an in-game radio station in GTA IV.

Bass player Syd Butler is also the owner of Frenchkiss 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?"

The song "The Sweat Descends" appears in the commercial for the Cartoon Network movie, "Fire Breather".

In December 2011 the band co-curated the All Tomorrow's Parties "Nightmare Before Christmas" festival in Minehead, England alongside Battles and Caribou.

Music style [edit]

Initially their music featured an abrasive sound fitting in the noise rock genre and reminiscent of the music of Fugazi and Jawbox. Later on their music became more idiosyncratic shifting to a more radio-friendly sound close to that of befriended bands Bloc Party and Enon. Kele Okereke of Bloc Party wrote of Les Savy Fav's influence on his band for an article in The Observer in 2005 and members of Enon have contributed to several Les Savy Fav tracks.

Sources [edit]