NOFX – Backstage Passport [DVD]

Last year Fuse aired an eight episode TV series documenting the trials and tribulations of NOFX as they toured the world in an ambitious fourteen month tour. This is a DVD collection of those eight episodes along with two and a half hours of extra footage so anyone who doesn’t live in the United States can now be treated to one of the best band documentaries released in a long time.

NOFX are known for their carefree attitude and wild antics. Having been around since 1983, they are one of the most successful independent punk bands. Throughout their career they’ve done everything themselves, never once relying on major label support. They do what they want, when they want and how they want.

But being a band for a quarter of a decade, things start to all meld together. In their own words, nothing is exciting anymore. Touring the States is now a safe routine. They go, play the same venue, always get a crowd, can be sure the promoter will be professional and always know what to expect. That’s not what punk should be and that’s not always fun. So in classic NOFX fashion, they attempted to break the mold and during a fourteen month period between September 2006 and November 2007, they did just that.

Going back to their old routes, they (well, their manager Kent) independently booked themselves a world tour but this time it was truly a “world” tour. Deciding to play in far off countries that most bands never even attempt to play – some places where no North American punk band have ever played – NOFX booked shows all over the world including Colombia, Peru, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, Indonesia, South Africa, Russia and more. Backstage Passport is the documentation of that adventure. An adventure full of ups, downs, drunken buffoonery, packed punk shows and police barricades.

Since it was made for Fuse, Backstage Passport has the feel of a reality TV show in the way that the show is narrated by the band members and crew who are thinking back to the experience. These interruptions are both good as they help explain what was going on and the thought process of the band members but can also be distracting as there are times where you simply want to see the band’s natural reactions and interpret them for yourself instead of them being dissected for you. But alas, its a TV show and that’s how its set up. A minor hiccup – one which is much less annoying than the clips showing what will happen right after a non-existent commercial break – but a hiccup nonetheless.

But the real find of Backstage Passport is not the format but the content. Backstage Passport invites the viewer into the crazy, unexpected world of not only touring but touring in dangerous, uncharted waters. Nowhere else would you see a band’s crew being held hostage by Peruvian police. Nowhere else would you see thousands of Taiwan police lined up in anticipation of a riot. Nowhere else will you see a band do illegal drugs in Shanghai (the one place where you should never do drugs since it carries the death penalty) on camera and attempt to handle it without going too crazy. Nowhere else will you see a band’s manager fight to get paid or a drum tech threaten to beat up and strangle different people. And nowhere else will you see Fat Mike surf a camel.

Each segment makes you think, makes you excited and shows why NOFX have been able to stay around for so long, the band never takes it seriously or think of it as a career but instead treat it as an adventure. This makes it so that the two episodes that are focused on Kent getting hopelessly drunk seem natural and comical at the same time. Plus, the fact that there is so much time dedicated to the crew gives yet another insight into everything that has to happen behind the scenes. There’s problems getting visas into countries that the band is unaware of and the manager must fix. Someone needs to make sure they get paid at the end of the day and there’s lots of people who need to make sure that the instruments are set up. The crew’s angrier viewpoints often offer a nice contrast to that of the band’s who, at one point, is eating a meal in a fancy restaurant while the crew was behind held hostage by police. Different view points? You bet.

Backstage Passport is a must-see for NOFX fans but on top of that, it is also good enough to be interesting for those simply interested in wild adventures and a more in depth look at what happens behind the scenes of a major world tour.