About Riviera
| Josh B. | Derek P. | Mick R. | Joshua R. | Matt U. |
Matt Usner
Email MattHailing from the Garden Spot of America - New Holland, Pennsylvania (pop. 5092), Matt Usner began playing guitar at age fourteen on an early 70's Danelectro that was donated by a family friend and then spray painted red by his older brother. A self-taught guitarist, Matt formed his first band in high school: The Blues Hogs, a quartet of long-hairs obsessed with AC/DC, Zeppelin, and Robert Johnson covers. After The Blues Hogs separated - graduated, actually - Matt focused on acoustic sounds and formed the trio Dutch Rag, who unabashedly imitated Son Volt and Townes Van Zandt for two years in Philadelphia-area coffee houses and armed themselves with a 3:1 guitar-to-band member ratio at each show. After relocating to Chicago, Matt hooked up with Derek Phillips in early 2001and took on bass duties for The Blue Ribbon Brothers, the twangy predecessors of Riviera. Matt teaches at the City Colleges of Chicago and listens to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea several times a week.