Not long after they were booed at their Toronto concert by an angry Canadian crowd the band cancelled the remaining two concerts as a support act for Willie Nelson and Ray Price, in Montréal, Québec and London, Ontario. Official reason mentioned on the Boxmasters’ website: one of the band members had the flu.

Yeh, right.

The way Billy Bob Thornton behaved, or better: didn’t behave, has not done the band’s profile any good. The celebrity stamp that this band has, worked against them with the absurd interview on the CBC radio show Q, hosted by Jian Ghomeshi this week. Jian Ghomeshi gave his usual upbeat introduction and in it he mentioned that not only had the band released 3 albums in just one year, it was also fronted by “Oscar winner screen writer, actor and director Billy Bob Thornton”. BBT was furious that his movie past was mentioned, as his handlers seemed to have instructed the show’s producer that it should only be about the music. Which it was – Jian merely mentioned the movie celebrity part to give radio listeners a frame of reference. Something that the Boxmaster’s website does all the time; looking at the news section there, the band’s official name is “Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters”.

The band must not be pleased with this negative attention. Looking at their faces during the interview they were as embarrased as any of us.

I hope for them BBT is worth the trouble…

“Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters”: