The monthlong tour launches October 25 at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, and is scheduled around the band’s performance at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York November 11.

The tour’s 21 dates take the band across the U.S. and Canada, and finish up with a show at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago November 26. Joining The Slits on tour will be a variety of rising punk bands including guitarless band The Apes, and San Diego art-punks Dmonstrations.

The Slits emerged from the heart of London’s punk scene in the late ‘70s with a raw and chaotic sound, and an aggressive attitude and live act that jubilantly shattered the boundaries of traditional female behavior.

Record labels shied away from the unpredictable quartet until they were finally signed by Island in 1979, but by then the band had grown tired of punk. Their subsequent recordings grew more avant-garde and experimental, delving into reggae, dub and world music, and the group eventually disbanded in 1981.

Original Slits members Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt returned to the studio last fall to record the first new Slits material in over two decades.

The resulting 3-song EP, The Return of the Giant Slits, which is due to be released October 17, features some contributions from some well known punk players like the Sex Pistols’ Paul Cook and Adam & the Ants’ Marco Pirroni.

The EP also includes a trio of second generation punks via backing vocals provided by Cook’s daughter Holly, Pollit’s daughter Phoebe, and Mick Jones’ (The Clash) daughter Lauren.