Bright Eyes/Desaparecidos fans often hear about Conor Oberst’s first band, Commander Venus. But how much Commander Venus music have you actually heard or owned? Well, today hearing a classic recording from a teenage Conor got significantly easier.

Wind-Up Records (yes, the Christian-leaning label best known for Creed and Evanescence) has reissued Commander Venus’ 1997 album Uneventful Vacation (note: they were actually signed to Grass Records, a more indie rock leaning label which became Wind-Up that same year). The band’s final recording is a raw, noisy and somewhat scattered collection of aggressive emocore that hints more at what he’d do with Desaparecidos than Bright Eyes. Despite its raggedness, the album is brimming with the potential brilliance Mr. Oberst would unleash in the future. For Conor fans who don’t mind his harder-edged side, Uneventful Vacation is a worthwhile historical reference point.

You can sample tracks on bn.com, and for the first-time ever you can buy these tracks digitally on iTunes.