Listening to most classic surf guitar bands, it’s easy to picture surfers cruising on slowly peeling waves, walking up and down their long boards as gingerly as ballroom dancers. But listening to the late ’90s local surf guitar trio The Infrareds, another image of surf culture emerges. With their sped-up – at times punk rock – take on the genre, The Infrareds conjure the rowdy, reckless side of the sport, from broken boards to surfers on short boards busting skateboarding-style airs off the back of waves.

Though the trio – bassist Keigan Skydecker, guitarist Rory Fortune, drummer Matt Glasby – haven’t all played together in the area since a 2005 show at the now-defunct Monterey venue The Lava Lounge, The Infrareds are reuniting this Saturday at Blue Fin Café and Billiards for what they’re billing as a 10-year anniversary show – and their last performance ever.

After they started playing around town sometime in the late ’90s, The Infrareds racked up a series of shows that still live on in the minds of local music fans. The trio opened for the great ’80s surf punk band Agent Orange at the Monterey Fairgrounds and did a set before the psychedelic surf rock group The Mermen took the stage at Big Sur’s Fernwood Bar. But some folks will always remember The Infrareds for their gig at the Dream Theater in 2000 with The Lesser Known Gods and an upstart country rock act called The Darktown Rounders.

A now-gone art house movie theater in New Monterey, The Dream Theater hosted the show on a Monday night and, according to a piece back then in the Weekly, sold out all tickets. Skydecker recalls that The Infrareds performed a high-energy closing set as the movie Apocalypse Now was projected on a movie screen behind them.

Another highlight for The Infrareds occurred later with the release of the band’s 2003 Recorded on Microfilm. The 17-song album begins with an old cigar advertisement before going into “The Red Scare,” a barreling surf-rock number with fast guitar playing and what sounds like war whoops in the background. On a later number, “Opening the Watergate,” Fortune’s surf guitar licks unfold as fluidly and powerfully as the waves reeling off a meaty right hand point break.

Following the CD’s release, The Infrareds embarked on an almost month-long tour around the United States. They performed at the famous New York City venue CBGB and did a show in a Portland, Maine, basement punk club called Gino’s, which Skydecker recalls as “the stuff that horror movies are made of.”

“That really was the apex of our career,” Skydecker says of Recorded on Microfilm and the following tour.

The Infrareds did put out another CD, 2004’s Sounds From the Darkroom, followed by a three-week tour of the Netherlands, but the trio lost their way after relocating to Los Angeles. After performing at a venue called Spike’s, The Infrareds were approached by an aspiring filmmaker who wanted to make a music video for the band. Unfortunately, the filmmaker and her associates encouraged The Infrareds to fire Glasby and add a vocalist to the band. (L.T. Thompson of the local groups Red Light Nightmare and Serpico did time as The Infrareds’ singer.) “It forced us to sell out,” Skydecker says. “In retrospect, I think we kind of feel guilty about it.”

In 2006, The Infrareds officially called it quits. Currently, the band’s members are scattered all over the California coast. Glasby is pursuing a career as a jade carver in Santa Cruz, while Fortune is working as a textile importer in San Diego. As bass player for local rock group Serpico, Skydecker is the only Infrared still playing music regularly.

The bassist says the thought of a reunion show bubbled up in his mind after realizing it had been a decade since The Infrareds started playing around Monterey. Skydecker also decided it was a chance to put a positive spin on what he clearly considers was a disappointing end to the group.

“We need to redeem ourselves as a band,” he says. “We need to put on a kick-ass show for our local fans.”

While The Infrareds have not had a chance to practice together for the show – they all live far apart from one another – Skydecker says the trio has been collaborating on three new songs via e-mail. They will unveil at least two of those tracks at the show.

Also, even though Skydecker is promoting the show as The Infrareds’ final performance, it’s apparent that if the performance goes well it might not be the last we hear of the Monterey surf rock band.

“Who knows?” Skydecker asks. “Let’s see how this thing goes. If you really want us to come back, show up.”

THE INFRAREDS, THE DARKTOWN ROUNDERS AND LOS DRYHEAVERS play 9pm Saturday, August 29, at Blue Fin Café and Billiards, 685 Cannery Row, Monterey. $10/advance at Recycled Records and Vinyl Revolution; $15/at the door. 717-4280.