'Turn me loose': Regina's The Extroverts return to the punk scene

It's a tour that's been nearly 40 years in the making.

When Regina punk band the Extroverts first launched themselves onto the local music scene back in 1979, the band blasted their way into the hearts of young punk-rock lovers.

But after three years of fast-paced action the band called it quits.

In 2009, guitarist Les Holmlund — known on stage as Eddie Lester — said they started rehearsing again with some friends, and it was too good to stop.

"It was really fun. We could feel that energy again. We had to reactivate certain parts of our brains to remember how to do it all, but it was really fun," Holmlund told CBC's Saskatchewan Weekend.

Around the same time, Holmlund said they started to go through piles of Extroverts memorabilia when they made an inspirational discovery.

"We found a pile of lyrics we had not put to music in the first time around," he said. 

They wrote one song based on those lyrics, and ended up enjoying the process so much, they continued to do more.

"Eventually, we got enough songs to make an album. Once you've gone through the trouble and expense of creating an album, you want to get it into as many hands as you can."

Now, the band is launching a western Canadian tour for the first time in support of their new album.

Lead singer Brent Caron said their personalities "haven't changed very much" and there was something unique about resurrecting those old lyrics.

"The fun part of the old lyrics is the references to what was happening at that time," Caron said. "It makes it interesting to be singing those songs in 2016. I also have a big stack of new ones that I've written since that so we've got the new record ready, we just need time to get it into the mix."

Calling their show "controlled mayhem" both Caron and Holmlund said this tour will be the first time many of their family members will see them perform.

"When we got back together in 2009, that very first show, only one of our four wives had seen us play live," Caron said.

"When we play our show in Calgary a couple of weeks from now, my daughter will see her dad play live for the first time." 

Caron said that's the one show he knows he's doing to "destroy that stage."

The Extroverts perform in Moose Jaw's Chiller's Brew Pub on Sept. 28. They finish the tour off at The Exchange in Regina on Sept. 30.

On Oct. 23, they'll be opening for Stiff Little Fingers at Louis' Pub in Saskatoon.

Find more on the Extroverts and their upcoming tour here.