Like nearly all of Sublime's projects, their posthumous documentary, "Stories, Tales, Lies and Exaggerations," is a family affair.

Over the course of the just-released two-and-a-half-hour home video, everyone from the band's former tour manager to family members, peers, drinking buddies, producers and tour mates weigh in on the Long Beach, Calif., trio's short but volatile career. It traces Sublime's hectic and unlikely climb to multi- platinum status and deals with the group's sad, unexpected demise following singer Bradley Nowell's death from a May 1996 drug overdose.

Given Sublime's reputation as a hard-partying crew, it's fitting that the lengthy, low-fidelity documentary begins with the sound of a bong hit. A number of candid interviews follow, with the group's two surviving members, bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, telling the story of the ska-punk-reggae trio's rise from humble beginnings at late-'80s backyard parties to the smash success of its self-titled 1996 album.

"I just wanted to get as many stories as possible and get their feelings as honestly as possible," said Josh Fischel, 28, the video's director.

"One thing I always noticed in hanging out with them is that it really is a family," said Fischel, who co-directed Sublime's "Doin' Time" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Wrong Way" (RealAudio excerpt) videos. "It wasn't just those guys [in the band], but the 70 [other] people that make up Sublime. Everyone was a catalyst in some way, either by inspiring them or being inspired by them."

Among those interviewed were family members; Nowell's widow, Troy; members of fellow Long Beach surf/punk band the Ziggens; and fellow punks Pennywise, the Falling Idols, Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal of No Doubt and former Minutemen/fIREHOSE bassist Mike Watt.

"It really is like a tapestry," Fischel said. "That's why I interviewed Watt, because Sublime were huge Minutemen fans. The sample at the beginning of [Sublime's 1992 album, 40 Oz. To Freedom], 'punk rock changed my life,' is from a Minutemen song."

The director said editing down more than 82 hours of material was more difficult than getting the bandmembers and their peers to talk. According to Fischel, Watt needed hardly any prompting at all.

"They were just all over the place," Watt enthused (excerpt of interview), on video, about the first time that he saw Sublime play in the early '90s.

Filmed in his tiny rehearsal studio in San Pedro, Calif., Watt rocks back and forth and gets visibly emotional when discussing the similarities he saw between Nowell and his own former bandmate, Minutemen leader D. Boon, who died in a 1985 car crash.

"Brad was like D. Boon," Watt said, remembering a time that he saw the Sublime singer splayed out backstage with his shirt off, "like a sea lion in the sun. [Sublime] had their own mission and their own boats, but we could be in the same fleet."

Most of the interviews in the film, released through Sublime's Skunk Records, were recorded over a one-month period in December 1997 and January 1998, Fischel said. He owned up to the sometimes lo-fi quality of the sound and video, chalking it up to time and monetary constraints.

"I think it's an incredible piece," said Jason Westfall, 26, Gaugh's brother and Sublime's one-time tour-manager/co-manager. "The way [the documentary] looks at the band at a bunch of different levels, from the extended-family aspect of it ... to the integrity of the music and the intensity they felt for it."

Another aspect of the band -- what Westfall dubbed their "fun-loving, mischievous" nature -- comes through in the often graphic, scatological road stories to which the movie owes its title.

"It seemed like a great idea, since they're so like that," Fischel explained. "They're storytellers, and they tell their story so well, but every time you talk to one of them, it changes or it sounds different."

One of the band's most memorable stories is an infamous tall tale of revenge on some unsuspecting workers at an Oregon Denny's, involving the group's tour- bus toilet. It's told from half a dozen perspectives in the film.

Also included in the movie is early footage of the band performing "Smoke Two Joints" during a backyard birthday party; a 1995 Nowell solo acoustic gig in Anaheim, Calif., during which the singer croons an homage to his omnipresent, much-revered Dalmatian, Lou Dog; and rare footage of Nowell doing a guest rap with pals No Doubt during a 1995 stop on the Warped concert tour.

No Doubt singer Stefani, who is seen in the film dueting with Sublime on their song "Saw Red," is one of several musicians who heap high praise on the group. "Brad came in to [the studio to] do his part on ['Total Hate'], and he was stalling for, like 45 minutes," Stefani said. "Then he came in and just nailed it in one take."

In keeping with the familial aspect of the band, the film's end credits come with more than 20 screens' worth of thank-you's to collaborators, relatives, friends and inspirations. "We thought of 20 or 30 more names we forgot," Fischel said. "That's definitely part of this. It's amazing how many people worked on this and didn't make a cent."