Whether you love NOFX or loathe them, the band’s staunch independence commands respect. Over the past 25 years, the mostly-jokey, frequently-political, always-drunk punk rock band have made a career out of doing things their own way, and in doing so, helped define the ethics of modern punk. From releasing records to booking tours, the band has never bowed to anyone they didn’t want to. Others have helped them in their cause of course, but generally only like-minded independent entities.

It makes sense then that the band is forging into new territory with their own documentary television series, “NOFX: Backstage Passport,” premiering this week on music cable channel Fuse. Not exactly independent, but not exactly MTV either (Fuse is owned by cable conglomerate Cablevision). What’s the series about? Let the lyrics to the show’s theme song tell you:

Were NOFX, screwing up since 1983
These days we’ve got mortgages and families
So we’re going on a sketchy tour
No country is too obscure
We’re going to drink and golf and fight and snort
We’re NOFX this is punk rock passport

And it’s not much more complicated than that. After growing tired of touring the same boring places year after year, the band set out to play in every country they’d always wanted to visit but hadn’t yet had the chance. They wanted to get back to playing shows the way they used to in their early days — chaotic and exciting. And in hopes of capturing compelling footage for future use, the band brought along some friends to film the whole thing.

“When you play weird crazy cities, crazy s–t is going to happen,” Fat Mike, the band’s leader says as he outlines some of the destinations they’ll be hitting on the extended excursion: China, Peru, Israel, Russia. “This tour is a booking agent’s nightmare,” he adds, before packing his bags (and over-stuffed pill container) and setting sail for Brazil, where the first show of the tour brings the first of many unexpected hurdles.

NOFX are brilliant punk rock marketers, and fans of the band will no doubt gobble this stuff up like they do each of the band’s records, T-shirts and collector’s edition vinyl. The good news about their latest item? It’s free — at least for subscribers to most cable systems. Like NOFX’s live shows, “Backstage Passport” is only partially about the music. Much of the enjoyment comes from simply watching the band, and in this case, their crew, interact with one another. The band’s music, though featured throughout the episodes, isn’t at the center of the series. What emerges instead is a series about the predicaments these guys manage to get themselves into — and even more impressively, out of. So much goes wrong in the first two episodes its hard to believe the madness will be sustainable for an entire series. But isn’t that what people have been saying about NOFX all along?

See a preview:

“NOFX: Backstage Passport” airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on Fuse.

RELATED: Q&A: Fat Mike of NOFX