Mike Ness -- frontman of the seminal Orange County punk band Social Distortion -- certainly doesn't need to exaggerate his punk rock bona fides. He's done multiple stints in jail, been busted for doing heroin and even flat-lined a few times, brought back from the brink with timely doses of adrenaline. Yet for nearly three decades and counting, he somehow found a way to keep himself -- and the band he founded in 1978 -- alive.

Social Distortion infused punk rock with the outlaw spirit and Johnny Cash sound. As well-chronicled in the 1984 documentary, Another State of Mind, the band was integral to the West Coast punk movement that spawned such cacophonous notables as The Germs, The Dead Kennedys, X, The Adolescents, TSOL and others. Despite numerous lineup changes and the 2000 death of band mainstay Dennis Dannell, Social Distortion soldiers on, and in recent years, the band has toured relentlessly.

In 2004, the band released the mature and rocking Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll. Last year, Social D. dropped a career-spanning greatest hits package that included the aching ode to addiction, "Ball & Chain," as well as the melancholy coming-of-age classic, "Story of My Life." The album featured a new track, the defiant "Far Behind," a generous helping of "fuck you" directed at false friends.

Along the way, Ness earned the respect of everyone from the Ramones to Rancid. Even the Boss is a fan club member -- Springsteen appeared on Ness's 1999 solo album, Cheating at Solitaire. During a hiatus from Social Distortion's heavy touring schedule, Ness has decided to take his countrified solo band (featuring two-thirds of the Social Distortion lineup) out on the road to perform songs from Cheating At Solitaire and his 1999 cover album, Under The Influences. After that, Ness says there will be a new solo disc, an acoustic Social Distortion disc and a documentary chronicling the band's 30-year history.

A reflective Ness -- now 46, married, with two adolescent boys -- sat down with Playboy.com to talk about his drug-and-alcohol-fueled early years, his affinity for Project Runway and whooping up on a racist at one of his shows.