“No matter where we are the crowds that come to see us pay $30 $40 to come and see us,” says sax player Rob Lind from his home in North Carolina.

“They don’t want to see a bunch of tired old guys mailing it in and sounding like a jukebox. So we go out there and, right from the first song, we go hard – and then we go to the dressing room and get tired.”

As evidence of how hard they rock and what you can expect when they play the Yours and Owls festival later this year, listen to Rob talk about a show in Mexico City.

“It was probably 120 degrees onstage and I’d never been so hot in my life,” he says.

“I drank five or six bottles of water on stage. When we finished and started shuffling off stage, I was starting to get dizzy, and so was [bassplayer] Freddie Dennis.

“We got down to the dressing room and Gerry [Roslie – keyboards] was already there with the paramedics, they were giving him water and supplemental oxygen.

“To the credit of the guys in the band who take the stage, never ever do we go onstage and not go full blast. Never do we go out there and get tired and lazy. We get tired when we’re done.”

Here’s something to keep in mind – Gerry, that guy getting treated backstage after that recent Mexico City gig? He had a heart transplant 15 years ago.

Yeah, he had a heart transplant and chose to keep performing. Rocking credentials proven beyond question.

The Sonics started up in the 1960s and recorded several albums before calling it quits. But their musical legacy lived on, finding adherents in everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana, Robert Plant and The Black Keys.

That notoriety and influence led to The Sonics starting up again about 10 years ago.

They needed some convincing because their attitude was, if we can’t go hard there’s no point in going at all.

“We’d been in the music business and had seen retro acts that came back after a few years and were hugely disappointing,” he says.

“We knew we had a pretty good reputation and we looked at each other and said, ‘if we can do this and do a good job then lets go out there and do. But if there’s any question about us being able to do it, let’s just blow it off, lets leave the reputation solid and walk away’.”

Turns out they could do it, and they’re coming to Australia to do it again on a tour later this year.

​​The Yours and Owls festival is on October 1 and 2. Tickets go on sale on Monday.