X shook up the Los Angeles music scene at the end of the 1970s with powerful punk rock flavored with the spare guitar and rhythms of rockabilly and the urban angst of Charles Bukowski. Dueling vocalists Exene Cervenka and John Doe (also the band's bassist), guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer D.J. Bonebrake mixed the influences of Carl Perkins and the Sex Pistols to create a rootsy new high-energy sound.

Powered by Zoom's potent riffs as well as Cervenka and Doe's literate lyrics and ragged vocal harmonies, X became the standard bearers for the Los Angeles punk movement. Though the guitarist left the band in the mid-80s, X continued to make an impact for years afterwards with able fill-in players like Dave Alvin (founder of the Blasters and also a collaborator in the country-flavored offshoot the Knitters) and Tony Gilkyson.

While the former husband-and-wife songwriting team of Cervenka and Doe has focused their energy on other projects (she is a respected poet and has published a novel, while he has recorded solo album and built a reputation as an actor), a full-fledged reunion with Zoom came to fruition several years ago. Now recognized as one of the great bands ever produced by Los Angeles alongside such legends as Love, the Doors (whose keyboard player, Ray Manzarek, produced their early albums), Black Flag and Jane's Addiction, X regularly reunites to perform shows concentrating on the band's seminal first four albums.

The band returns to the Bay Area on its annual "Xmas Tour" once again this weekend for two shows featuring the original quartet performing classic hits and seasonal favorites. My Jerusalem opens the shows.

X-Mas 2012 with X
Friday-Saturday, Dec. 28-29, 8 p.m. $32
Slim's