It's been almost 20 years since Toronto band Lowest of the Low released their seminal 1991 debut, Shakespeare My Butt.

And given the band's tumultuous history -- they've split up and gotten back together twice since that time, most recently in 2007 -- their latest reunion, for two sold-out shows at Lee's Palace on Friday and Saturday, may be brief again. But who knows?

"We have a new policy now to never say this is our last show," said lead guitarist-singer Stephen Stanley, seated beside lead singer-guitarist Ron Hawkins at a Queen Street East gallery recently.

"We're always say, 'This is our second-to-last show,' " he added with a smile.

In fact, The Low -- as they are affectionately called -- are hoping to tour parts of Canada next spring and maybe even Australia, as Shakespeare My Butt officially turns 20 in 2011.

The disc, which became the bestselling indie release in Canadian history (although it would be eclipsed later the same year by Barenaked Ladies' Yellow Tape), had made the cut repeatedly in Chart magazine's 10 greatest albums in Canadian music history.

It propelled the alt-rock group to local hero status in Toronto as they sang about the Don River, Bathurst Street, and Hawkin's Danforth pub at the time (The Only), and held court at some take-no-prisoners shows -- most memorably four-night stands at The Blue Moon Cafe on Bloor Street.

"By the third set usually the band was kind of drunk and the audience was drunk and I would be up on the table or Steve would be up on the table playing guitar and people would be dancing on tables and it was all kind of insane," said Hawkins. "It was a total Bacchanal (event), like, 'Here are our songs, but really you're coming to be part of a kind of circus-like evening.' It was like you came and got swept up in this hurricane of energy. And we were just getting our feet wet."

It was, apparently, too much, too fast.

The Low -- previously a post-punk group called Popular Front -- eventually got signed to a major label and released their followup record, 1994's Hallucigenia, but split up acrimoniously with Stanley and Hawkins barely speaking for six years after.

"We were tired and working and had every type of drug and alcohol substance in front of us and people to play with and that kind of grew out of hand and became a coping mechanism like it does for a lot of people to just stay interested on the road, and so that got really out of control," said Hawkins, who remains a full-time solo musician and painter while Stanley's day job is as an art director.

"I was definitely the guy in the band who was sort of on the worst path of self-destruction with substances so I, without a word of drama, think that if the band had stayed together I might not be here."

Added Stanley: "It was a rolling carnival."

Lowest of the Low regrouped again in 2000 and released the 2001 live album Nothing Short of a Bullet and 2004's studio disc Sordid Fiction before playing their last shows (again) in 2007.

But this time, it was less antagonistic.

"It sort of just reached a natural wrapping up point," said Stanley.

No plans for new Lowest album

Toronto band Lowest of the Low play are gearing up for two shows at Lee's Palace on Friday and Saturday and a bigger tour next year in support of their album Shakespeare My Butt's 20th anniversary.

But don't hold your breath for a new record in the future.

"There's no plans right now," said lead guitarist Stephen Stanley. "I think (2004's) Sordid Fiction, the last record we did, which we all poured two years of our hearts and souls into writing and recording and touring, was a bit of a band letdown. We were all pretty happy for the way things turned out and there just wasn't that hunger for us to do new stuff out there."

Added lead singer Ron Hawkins: "We also think the ball was dropped pretty badly on the marketing and promotion end of it."

Still, their appetite for touring together appears healthy.

"I've played with tons of different setups of people, bands, duos, whatever, and they've all been enjoyable, great but nothing ever comes close to what happens we get in a room and play," said Stanley.

Added Hawkins: "It's just classically more than the sum of its parts. There was just something that happened when we got us all together, that was really kinetic, the songs were good, and we could put them across in realistic way. I think people always respected our integrity."