I reckon it was probably half and half - half bullshit boasting and half choice to slowly wreck oneself. As for piercing - lots of people pierce themselves to 'hide' behind the front that piercings can create. I used to work with an extremely well-known cameraman who looked like the worst sort of glue-sniffing dog on a rope crusty ever. He had a dayglo straggly mohican, huge amounts of piercings and tribal tattoos plus big corks through his ears. He was also a devoted family man with three kids, a wife, a house in the country and a lucrative job. He happened to be extremely shy and in a moment of candour once told me that he only made himself look like that to stop people talking to him all the time. The whole thing was a front. He had a reputation that proceeded him which was purely based on other peoples pre-conceptions about what he must be like judged entirely on his appearance - including me! Re: Reynolds post - we are all entitled to our opinion - and don't forget he had been in the pub as well!!