What’s got a long neck, four hands, facial hair and a complicated backstory? The six-string menage a trois between Tampa songwriters Shawn Kyle and Brendon Hock, that’s what.
The literal object of their affections is an Epiphone Riviera, made by the Gibson guitar company to resemble a vintage model from the ‘60s. It’s a natural blonde, made of maple and mahogany and probably about 20 years old. Kyle — who has played with the Beauvilles, AMFMS, Florida Kilos and more — bought it off an English prog-rock band in a parking lot during SXSW many years ago; it appears on two recordings for Kyle, but Hock, who fronts Tampa rock-noir outfit Empire Cinema, first saw it when the Beauvilles played an Off the Avenue session and fell in love with it instantly.
“I want to say this was way before I even knew him,” Hock told CL about buying it after Kyle quit the Beauvilles. “At the time I had a huge affinity toward semi-hollow guitars. It took a year or two before I finally had it in my possession.” The Riviera appears on Empire Cinema’s 2014 live recording for WMNF’s Grand National Championships program and their Esse Quam Videri EP from the year before.
“The rules that Brendon offered, when I sold it to him originally, were that if either of us wanted to sell it, he had to offer it to the other for the price each paid for it,” Kyle said. “I ran into him at a cafe after I had been on tour for about a year with AMFMS and mentioned that I was looking to find another guitar like it, and he said, ‘well, I was going to call you just the other day and see if you wanted it back.’”
“Honestly it was hard for me to let it go,” Hock added. While Kyle estimates that the guitar has travelled through 40 states and Europe, its home for now it is still Tampa, and there are probably another few exchanges in the works before it finally settles down for good.
"At times I do want it back," Hock said.
This article appears in Feb 9-16, 2017.