"You've got to think about it - we've toured four times, really, together since 1983. I couldn't see us getting around to doing this again," the 63-year-old said during the launch of their coming summer tour, Blood Moon, at Sydney's Bondi Pavilion on Wednesday.

Four-fifths of the band - Barnes, Don Walker, Ian Moss and Phil Small, minus absent drummer Charley Drayton - clad in black leather jackets fronted to talk up what will be their "first ever outdoor summer tour".

"It's going to be big. If we had a roof we'd tear it off," said Barnes.

"We'll play rain, hail, shine - we're going to nail that stage down and then blow it apart. It's going to take a tornado to stop us playing and we've played through them before."

The tour, which runs from "New Year's Eve until the kids are back at school", kicks off at WA's Fremantle Park on December 31 and takes in multiple wineries across Victoria and NSW. The band will play Stage 88 in Canberra on January 30 with Paul Kelly and Magic Dirt.

Cold Chisel, now in their 46th year, have been posting social media snaps of themselves in the studio making new music since June. Barnes says those sessions will form part of the tour, with a new single due out in the coming month.

"Definitely there will be a new album by Christmas," he said.

Ever the salesman, Barnesy's "last stand" pitch has been heard before by Chisel fans.

Initially splitting in 1983, the band has reformed various times since 1997. But after 2011's extensive Light the Nitro tour they've only performed sporadically, including at 2015's NRL Grand Final and the closing of Sydney's Entertainment Centre that same year.

"Listen it's not really likely we'll be doing this again," Barnes reiterated about the coming tour.

"We're going to treat this like it's the biggest thing we've ever done and maybe the last... If the fans come they're going to be pleased. And if they miss it, they'll be really f--king sorry."

Tickets for Cold Chisel's Blood Moon Tour 2020 go on sale via the band's website on Monday, October 21.