A concert by theatrical rockers the Tubes may be a bit less elaborate than it was in the ‘70s. But rest assured that the production numbers are still in place and the band’s best-known character, the decadent rocker Quay Lewd, will still make an appearance to sing the anthemic “White Punks on Dope.”

“We were going to have him come out with a walker. But then I realized we didn’t want to parody people who actually have to use one,” confesses frontman Fee Waybill. “So he’s still the same, just a little drunker and a little more unstable on the big shoes. But I’m still wearing the outfit and the wig, the whole thing. We’re not carrying 35 people and three dancing girls with us anymore, but I’m still doing six or eight costume changes per show.”

And now it can be told after all these years: The inspiration for Quay Lewd was the New York Dolls, with whom the Tubes shared a bill in the ‘70s. “We played a show with them at this little club in San Francisco. And they showed up in full glam — eye makeup, big hair and platform shoes, and they were walking around during the day like that. We were thinking that was ludicrous and thought we’d have some fun with it. So I went out and bought four big tomato juice cans, and taped them to the bottom of my boots. So when I came out I was eight inches off the ground, but during the song they squished down to two inches. And I was totally blotto because someone had given me a Quaalude before the show. But then I had a name for the character — He used to be called Rod Plant, after Rod Stewart and Robert Plant.”

The song soon took on a life of its own; Elton John even referenced Quay Lewd in the liner notes to “Rock of the Westies,” the megahit that he released soon after. “That one surprised me a little, and I still have the album somewhere. Then Motley Crue covered ‘White Punks on Dope,’ Nina Hagen did it in German, and I hear that Joe Elliot (of Def Leppard) did it with his solo band.” Are they all getting that the song is really a parody of a certain type of California burnout? “I don’t know what they’re thinking, but I’d say it’s pretty obvious from the lyrics.”

The current Tubes lineup still includes three of the original members: Waybill, guitarist Roger Steen and drummer Prairie Prince (bassist Rick Anderson passed in late 2022). In recent tours they’ve played the entirety of their two most popular albums, “The Completion Backward Principle” and “Outside Inside.” Sunday night at City Winery they’ll do a chunk of both albums plus a few surprises.

“I’m told that Elvis might make an appearance,” Waybill says. “I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve lasted this long, aside from the fact that the music is great and really has endured all these years. But combine that with the fact that we’ve come up with a new show every year, and there’s always some kind of theme. We’ve done our Quentin Tarantino tribute show and our Dolce Vita theme.” They haven’t done a 50th anniversary tour yet, even though the band started in 1972; instead they’re saving it for the anniversary of their first album. “We started recording it in ‘74, and it came out a year later. So we can start the anniversary around that, and have fun milking it for two years.”

The Tubes on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1977. Singer Fee Waybill is in costume as stage persona Quay Lewd. (Photo by David Ashdown/Keystone Features/Getty Images)