Defunct punk band the Nukes abandoned St. Louis for the greener pastures of the West Coast long ago.

But the guys still have love for the city, and they return this weekend for a one-off reunion concert with most of the core members, after which the band will finally, and officially, put a lid on it.

“We never did a proper goodbye. Everyone got busy doing other stuff, and it kind of petered out,” says bassist and “background warbler” Chuck Lindo.

“This show will put it to rest, so we’re eager to blow it out the cannon,” says Lindo, who’ll be joined by singer Packy Reynolds, guitarist Michael Eisenbeis and drummer John Pessoni at Saturday night’s concert at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room (tickets are $10 for the 9 p.m. show with Lucabrasi).

“We really put on a pretty dramatic live show when we had that core group. … I’ve never played with another group of people that made that much perfect noise,” says Lindo, who plays in the San Francisco band the American Professionals.

“I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but we were tight, scary tight, and we could turn it on a dime. I miss that,” he says.

And some in St. Louis’ indie rock community have been missing the Nukes, known for songs such as “Roadblock,” “Immediate Reaction,” “Vision City” and “Last Ten Years.”

Lindo’s start with the band came when he answered an ad in the Riverfront Times in 1987. A bass player was needed for a high school show. The band was then called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. “I showed up with long hair and wearing a trench coat. I looked like a total idiot,” he says.

He was in, and the band suffered through the name Nuclear Ken and the H Bomb Men before settling on the Nukes. Influenced by the likes of X, the Yardbirds, the Jam and the Clash, the group performed at teen clubs such as the Animal House, as well as pool parties and church events.

“We were always getting shut down or breaking something. We were a little on the raucous side,” Lindo says of the band, which became a Laclede’s Landing staple.

“That was a real fertile time for St. Louis rock bands,” says Lindo, who mentions the Urge, the Unconscious and Corporate Humor as other bands starting out around the same time.

“Bands were playing their own stuff, and people were coming through the doors to hear you play your own stuff. We don’t want to say we broke the door open because we didn’t. But we were ready to rush right in when someone else did,” he says.

The Nukes recorded a cassette, “Now,” in 1989, and relocated to San Francisco in 1991 at the request of the new guitarist who convinced the band everything was bigger and better there.

“We abandoned it all to move to San Francisco so we could play to nobody. … I don’t know if it was a good move, but we grew as people,” says Lindo, who left the band in 1996.

“It’s going to be so much fun,” Lindo says. “I can’t believe it will be like 90 minutes and that’s it. But we’ll all go on to other things, and we’re happy doing so.”