He's partial to wearing schoolgirl gymslips, has often gone before an audience in a dress and, on at least one occasion, got so drunk that he stripped on stage and clenched a banana between his buttocks
But The Damned's guitarist and punk legend, Captain Sensible, has grown up a little since those days, and for the band's first show in Hong Kong, he's chosen something a little more sedate... but only just. 'I'll be wearing a one-piece furry pink outfit,' the Captain proudly boasts of the wardrobe his Japanese girlfriend is putting together for the Asian leg of his seminal band's 35th-anniversary world tour. 'I have a very low embarrassment threshold.'
The jumpsuit in question is a replica of one he wore for the cover of The Damned's 1979 album Machine Gun Etiquette. It's not the only thing the Captain plans to resuscitate from the band's four-decade history. He's on a mission to educate China about real punk rock.
'There are places in the world that are yet to know what The Damned is all about. We will show China - or at least a room in China - what punk is really about,' The Captain - Raymond Burns to his mum - declares from his base in Brighton, the hip British seaside town that the likes of Australian gloom-rocker Nick Cave and DJ Fatboy Slim also call home.
The Damned are one of the few bands that can legitimately make such a claim. They were punk rock before the Sex Pistols felt the first gooey hit of pogoing fan-phlegm on their scruffy collars.
Formed in 1976 when the Captain and drummer Rat Scabies joined singer Dave Vanian and guitarist Brian James as a means to avoid 'becoming just another cog in the establishment's wheel', the band notched up one of the most impressive lists of rock 'n' roll firsts: they were the first band to release a punk single (1977's New Rose) and punk album (Damned Damned Damned), and can claim to be DJ John Peel's debut punk play on his hugely influential BBC radio show.