Matt Bonner and Okkervil River unite for benefit concert

Who would have thunk it? A professional basketball player and an indie rock star, both hailing from the Granite State and enjoying careers in Texas, join forces to organize a concert aimed at supporting a worthy cause. It almost gives you hope—hope that the industries of professional sports and music, marred beyond recognition by the jagged claws of greed and commerce, can still achieve something noble when individuals decide to put their stardom to good use.

The Sneakers and Speakers Charity Rock Fest ’07 begins at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. Organized by NBA player and Concord native Matt Bonner, and headlined by indie rock band Okkervil River, the event will raise money for the Concord Boys and Girls Club.

Bonner currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs, who recently swept Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA championship. But the 6’10” forward has not forgotten his local roots, and he still spends his off-seasons at home in Concord. Contacted by phone last week, Bonner noted that the Concord Boys and Girls Club had a major influence on his life. “When I was growing up, that’s where I went every day after school. That’s where I first started playing basketball competitively,” he said.

The athlete later won three consecutive state championships with the Concord High School basketball team and went on to college stardom at the University of Florida. After graduating with a 3.96 GPA, he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls and then acquired by the Toronto Raptors. He was traded to the Spurs in 2006, bringing him to San Antonio, a short distance from Austin, Texas—home of Okkervil River.

Okkervil front man Will Sheff is another New Hampshire native with serious Granite State pride. The singer was in Europe last week promoting the band’s forthcoming CD and was unavailable for an interview, but he makes no secret of his New Hampshire roots. “I grew up in a tiny New Hampshire town and anybody who knows me knows I have a ridiculous, probably inappropriate amount of pride for my home state,” Sheff says on the band’s Web site. “However, never in my professional life have I actually played a show there.”

Founding band members Zach Thomas, Seth Warren and Sheff started playing music together as a way to kill time in a little town where nothing ever happened. They later moved to Austin and quickly became one of indie rock’s jewels in the rough. The band’s fourth album, “Black Sheep Boy,” with its agonized blend of melodic folk poetry and scathing punk rage, was considered by many critics and fans to be one of the finest albums of 2005. 

Okkervil River is by no means a household name, but their unrestrained musical passion has caught the eye of many a devoted fan, including Matt Bonner’s brother, Luke, who plays basketball for the University of Massachusetts. The younger Bonner contacted his elder brother while the latter was playing for the Raptors and told him that a band with New Hampshire ties was performing near Toronto. An avid music fan, Matt Bonner went to the show at Lee’s Palace and was surprised to find the venue sold out. “The show just blew me away,” he said.

Bonner later caught two Okkervil shows in Texas, and the band quickly catapulted to the top of his list of favorites. When he decided to organize the Sneakers and Speakers event in Concord, he knew Okkervil River would make a perfect headliner. “Number one on the list was Okkervil River, because that’s our favorite band. In an ideal world, that’s who we wanted to get,” he said.

But Bonner’s basketball fame offered few contacts in the music industry, and he did not know how to get his foot in with the band. As fate would have it, the band would come to him—in a way.

At UMass, Luke Bonner had posted a blog that included a list of the top five live concerts he had ever attended. Topping the list was a show by Okkervil River in North Hampton, Mass. One of the band members happened to notice the blog and sent Luke Bonner a message thanking him for the kind words. Luke replied and informed the band about the upcoming benefit concert. Much to the delight of the Bonner brothers, the group immediately expressed interest.

Matt Bonner has since spent time hanging out with Sheff and the rest of the band in Austin. The musicians even gave Bonner an advance copy of their new CD, which is slated for release in August. Bonner was hesitant to say too much about the new disc, but he confirmed that the songs are “awesome.”

The benefit concert in Concord will also feature two other bands with local connections. Indie rock band Lando, which takes the stage at 6:30 p.m., is now based out of Savannah, Georgia, but includes several members with New Hampshire roots. The Ron Noyes Band, a longtime staple of the Concord music scene, follows Lando at 7:15 p.m. Okkervil takes over at 8 p.m. The space between sets will be filled with other acts, including a standup comedy routine and a performance by the yet-to-be-announced winner of the Granite State Songwriting Contest.

Bonner said he made a point of going after a big headlining act while filling other slots with bands that might not normally have the opportunity to play such a large venue. He called the concert a “total grassroots local New Hampshire event.” He and his brother organized the event on their own, without hiring any public relations or marketing staff. The concert is Bonner’s way of supporting the community that nurtured him on his way to an NBA championship. “I always support New Hampshire artists,” he said. “I just want to kind of give back.”

As for Okkervil River, the concert will offer a chance to showcase songs from the forthcoming album, “The Stage Names,” which Sheff describes as his favorite Okkervil record to date. It also gives the singer an opportunity to reconnect with his origins.

“My family, many of whom, like my grandparents—who have never seen the band before—are already pretty psyched about this show,” Sheff says on the Okkervil Web site. “If you live in the area, please come out and help make the house look full for them.”