Les Savy Fav 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.
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
