Pitchfork

Conor Oberst and M. Ward go way back. Ward opened Bright Eyes' 2002 Lifted tour. He joined Oberst and Jim James a couple years later for their collaborative triptych trek. And when Bright Eyes serenaded Los Angeles with help from the LA Philharmonic a couple months ago, Ward was there.

So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone that Oberst and Ward have taken the next logical step with their musical relationship. They've allegedly gone and formed a band.

The news comes from an Omaha City Weekly report, which indicates Oberst and Ward's unnamed band plans to record an album next year. Representatives from neither Oberst's nor Ward's camps could confirm the collaboration, however. But given these guys' history, it falls a wee bit closer on the likeliness scale than, say, a Bright Eyes/Soulja Boy collabo.

The City Weekly bit also mentions a second Oberst side project set to record in 2008. This one finds our perennially bedheaded emoter working with Jake Bellows of Omaha act Neva Dinova. Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova, as you may recall, previously collaborated on the 2004 EP One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels-- so again, not exactly a shocka, even if this too has yet to be confirmed.

The picture may become a little clearer come December 29 and 30, as Conor Oberst takes the stage at Minneapolis' 400 Bar with nothing but the name his parents gave him. Well, that and "a different backing band," according to a Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune report. "Word from 400 Bar management," the report states, "is that Oberst wants it explicitedly known these won't be Bright Eyes shows-- i.e., he won't be doing any of those songs! He will be playing new material." We'll leave it to you super sleuths to put two and two together here.

Thanks to reader Marissa Malouff for the tips!

Conor Oberst live:

12-29 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
12-30 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar