There never was and never will be another band quite like X. Here was a Los Angeles quartet reacting to the punk scenes in New York and London with a cast that didn't make much sense on paper.

You had a hayseed from Decatur, Ill., on bass. A witchy-looking girl singer who dressed like your granny and couldn't stay on key. A rockabilly guitarist with a pompadour and a frozen smile. And a drummer named Bonebrake -- OK, he seemed to belong in a punk band.

The result was all beautifully askew. When you played the band's debut, "Los Angeles," it sounded a little like a record that was left out too long in the sun. X -- John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and D.J. Bonebrake -- had a warped sense of melody and a relentless beat to go with its seedy underground poetry.

The band made four killer punk albums between 1980 and 1983 -- "Los Angeles," "Wild Gift," "Under the Big Black Sun" and "More Fun in the New World" -- and then seemed to take a stab at the mainstream with "Ain't Love Grand" in 1985. Zoom bailed shortly after and it was never the same, as X tried to fill his spot with the less aggressive Dave Alvin (Blasters) and Tony Gilkyson (Lone Justice).

They also tried to soldier on through the divorce of Doe and Cervenka, which would have been enough to vanquish most bands forever.

In recent years, though, the original foursome have put their issues and their other projects aside to revive X. They played two shows together in Pittsburgh in the '80s, the first at Heaven and the second with the Replacements at the Syria Mosque Ballroom.

On Friday, the original X plays Pittsburgh for the first time since then. Last week, the 52-year-old Cervenka, an artist, poet and singer who lives with her husband, guitarist Jason Edge, in Missouri, took a few moments on the phone while driving through Detroit to fill us in on what is up with X.

How would you say an X show now compares to how it was in the late '70s?

Pretty much the same. I don't think we have the same physical energy that we had when we were 23, but I think we have the emotional intensity we had when we were 23 and that's the most you can ask for in life, so I'm happy.

What about in terms of the playing?

We're better musicians and singers than we used to be. It's definitely more about the songs than just getting drunk and wild. But you'll have to see for yourself. It's hard to be objective. I know there are some differences, but mostly physical. Emotionally, it's pretty intense.

Going back to the early days, can you talk about what inspired the music early on?

The rest of the band -- the three guys -- played music since they were little kids. Billy [the oldest member at 60] was really inspired by the Ramones 'cause he grew up in a time when there was Gene Vincent and those bands -- before the English came along and took those bands over, like the Beatles and stuff. He decided he wanted to be in a band again. So he places an ad and John answered it and I met John. We were just inspired by the times in which we lived, the fact that we were all artists and poets. And that's what you do when you're a musician, artist or poet, you find an outlet for it.

There were other female prototypes in punk, more American than British. But was it hard to break into that movement as a woman?

No. The punk days were really good -- they weren't sexist or racist or homophonic. Girls could be girls, women could be women, you didn't have to be a sex object -- the first real dawning of women in music.

Was there a rivalry between the L.A. and New York scenes?

No, we were friends with Lydia Lunch, The Cramps, Blondie ... We went to see them in L.A. and people went to see us when we went to New York. We always made fun of them because they were more serious and taken more seriously than we were. We had more of a sense of humor, with bands like the Dickies and others like that.

Are you pleased with the way X's career went -- the level of fame and success you had then?

Yeah, I am. I'm grateful for what I have, for sure. It's better to be legendary than famous. It's nice to be famous and have a song on the radio, but if you don't get that, longevity is the hardest thing to achieve as an artist. And so longevity to me is a prize outcome of this X thing -- that I'm still able to do it. I'm so happy about that. I don't really care about selling records.

Considering what the country has been through the last seven years, does the music take on more relevance than it might have in the '90s? Songs like 'We're Desperate' and 'World's a Mess ...'

People are telling me yes. They're saying the songs are more relevant now than they were in 20 years. The relevance is equal to when they were written. In the '90s people didn't really respond to that same message in the same way. It's not coming from us, it's coming from people that like us -- that point of view.

I think a lot of people marvel at how you and John have been able to work together. Can you explain how that's possible?

We just value each other. We know that there aren't two other people we're going to meet like us in our lifetime. The longer I go on, the longer I realize that I'm not going to meet another John Doe. We have a really a connected relationship psychically. We're very much a part of each other's psyche, so we're pretty hooked into each other.

What's the dynamic now with the rest of the band?

It's good. We've had a long time to work on any differences we may have had. So it's like a really good marriage.

Your tour focuses on the first few X records, which is what people want to hear. As someone who is an artist and still constantly creating things, does it feel artistically vital to you to go out and play 30-year-old songs?

Love it. Absolutely love it. You know why, because those are [expletive] classic great songs and I'm lucky I get to sing them. And I'm lucky I still get to do it. The other thing is, I get to make art exhibits and I get to write books and I get to play in other bands and I get to play shows with John or the Knitters. Maybe if all I did was go out and play old X songs, maybe that would flip me out. But I just think of it as one part of what I do and I'm glad I still get to do that.

Do you see the Knitters as being as anticipating the roots/alt-country movement?

Yeah, that's what people tell me. We started the band as the alternative to X and the Blasters, which had gotten too big. People were always asking us to play benefits and Billy and Phil always said no. So we started a band that would play benefits. That's how the Knitters got started, then we made an album and toured.

How do you look back on 'Ain't Love Grand'?

Well, you know, with a little bit of revulsion. I think there were some good songs there but they got mixed really badly and got turned into something really bad. I'm not very happy with it, but a lot of people really are. Then we made some records with Dave Alvin and Tony Gilkyson, which are OK, but it's really those first four albums that are the best, and if we make another album, it will sound like one of those -- similar in production and intensity.

What is the possibility of another X record?

Well, we're working on songs now, John and I. I wrote a bunch of songs and I gave them to John and he worked on them to 'X' them up a little cause I'm not sure if they're X-y. They're Exene-y but I don't know if they're X-y. So we're just waiting to get off the road and then we're going to record maybe a song and see how it goes. But, yeah, we're working towards it.

I read about you recently visiting a high school for a poetry reading. Are young people aware of X now?

Not too much, but the ones who are really are, and they know what's going on with a lot of music. I think now because of the Internet and people sharing information, people do know who we are cause there are a lot of young kids at our shows. But you know -- your work has to stand up whether people know who you are or not. If I walk into a student body to read my poems, I'm either a good poet or bad poet. They don't know who Exene is. That's really challenging and I really like it.