Warning: Tom Argo (Wherewolf) is at it again...

[lasercd]

I am writing this as a warning to any band who has contact with Tom Argo. Mr. Argo uses various names and email addresses – the most common one of late is tied in with “silverwolfproductionsusa.com”. There are so many email addresses and names that its impossible to keep track of them.

He will represent himself as either writing for a magazine, representing a label such as Roadrunner , a ficticious promotion company called Majestik. A common angle is for him to name drop Monte Conner and that he is tight with him and can get the band a deal with Roadrunner.

The purpose of all this is simple – Argo has an obsession with procuring music from progressive metal bands, particularly material that is unreleased. I suspect it gives him a rush to have material that no one else has heard. Problems develop when he takes this material and puts it up on a server or trades it out. All of a sudden the unreleased material isn’t so unreleased…

To achieve all of this he has to lie and he’s really quite good at it . He can bullshit with the best of them and namedrop all day long. The reality is he’s a virtual nobody in the music industry, constantly trying to be an insider. Labels, distros, and any band with intelligence consider him to be a nuisance and frankly a joke. There are others out there as well – he’s not alone – let this be a warning against him and his ilk.

Mr. Argo carefully watches our bands. In late March we will be releasing a CD by a new British band called Haken (some of you may be familiar with them). This morning I was contacted by Haken regarding a “pest” who was constantly asking for a copy of their new album under the pretense of a review/interview for Metal Hammer. Luckily the band didn’t give out any material. Here are the 3 latest emails they received from Mr. Argo:

Hen,
The reason I have been so aggressive is that METAL HAMMER gave me a deadline to have the review and interview. You are the feature newcomer band of the month, this will sell cd's my friend.

Hen, I tried the telephone number on the back of the demo cd but that appears to be inactive. Do you have number to be reached at? I can tell you my promotion plans for Haken and you can tell me your thoughts as well. Cheers, Tom

Hen,
Here is my FTP to upload the promo of "Aquarius" ..As I said the interview and review will be in the February issue so it is critical for this as it is the main purpose of the interview and is 100% going to be featured as newcomer. Here is ftp to upload cd, please include song titles. PLEASE let me know! ...Tom

[I’ve left the FTP info out]

Of course all of this is a fabrication by Mr. Argo.

I’m in the process of warning all of the artists I work with to stay clear of him. I suggest you do the same. His antics might be harmless and they might not be and it is not worth the risk. If anyone contacts you with an offer that seems too good to be true it most certainly is. If someone asks for your upcoming music because they want to interview you or can get you a deal – stop for a second and ask yourself “Does this make sense?”. Let these people talk to your management – don’t handle it directly. Argo has burned lots of bands in the past because they are naïve and are trying to get some attention in a tough market. Don’t be the next one.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Thanks Ken.

I've sent ANOTHER warning about Tom Argo to all my bands. This thing seem to come around every 6 month or so with him, huh? Wonder if he's going to pull his usual dramatic stunt this time around?

c.

 

[Harvester]

There will be no dramatics here as he was banned permanently for his antics earlier this week on this forum.

 

[Palabra de Dios]

Damn. Crazy shit.

 

[OrbWeaver]

Damn. Crazy shit.

+1

 

[MEGALOUD]

I'd like to at this time weigh in on this myself, since I've had many encounters with mr Tom Argo and unfortunately it seems he's not taken my advise and gotten help with his problem or changed his ways.

I could post about 20 emails of outright extortion that Tom sent me and I've saved regarding threats to upload to torrents albums I was planning to release or looking at possibly releasing... What was it he wanted you ask? He wanted unreleased tracks from other bands he didn't have that he knew I had received for label consideration. I of course blew him off!

Tom has messed up several possible releases for me because of his lying and deceptions with bands, he's pretended to work for Nightmare and even offered licensing deals to bands directly in my name, the latest of which is a band I actually put a sample of on the last PROG POWER CD called PHONOMIK (killer band) but after Toms Antics the deal fell through.

He is a prog freak and extremely obsessed, and is simply a compulsive liar and he's extremely good at it, think of it as Tom's bizzare way to become famous by letting the world know he had your music first, and then giving it away before you can get a deal finalized.
Now he's become infamous!
Deron, please block Tom's IP's from all of my forums as well, thank you!

 

[MetalAges]

I would love to but the reality is IP addresses can be reset and it just wouldn't work. I will however keep tabs on if he tries to rejoin here, and if anyone notices he is back please send me a private message and I will take care of it. I will look to spread this via Ultimate Metal as well. It's tough enough for bands and labels to try and make waves these days without needing the screw job that gets put to them by guys like Tom.

 

[Progmetalmaniac]

I want to speak my mind a little hear as well. I am impartial as to the happenings here, but I do know Tom and have known him for several years.

Some people may forget that it is not his intent to hurt anyone or share any of this music. He loves the music and likes to hear things before there released, as does anyone in this community. I am not saying that maybe he did not lie to a band to get their music, but none of the bands that he asks for music does he just blatantly put it on the internet. I think everyone needs to put this in perspective. We are not dealing with Nickelback here. These are small bands and sometimes his postings about bands generate buzz. In this community that is the only way to sell records. He probably helps more bands being heard than everyone thinks. Yes he is obsessed with getting new material and sometimes that does make him bend the truth, but we all are. As long as all of the fans of this community continue to buy cd's that is what will keep bands continuing to make prog music. He is only a little blip on the radar and will not hurt anyone. As I said, the ones that want to buy cd's will. His does not want to hurt any of these bands.

Take it for what you want, but I believe that some of this is taken too far for what we are delaing with here. We all here download music, please it is part of life now. I always buy what I think is good and it has nothing to do with Tom Argo asking a band 2 months if the release date if he can have it. Yeah it may not be right, but he doesn't share with anyone but himself.

 

[TwoMindsOneSoull]

If this guy has any of your pre-mastered material

What exactly is the worse he can do?

 

[J-Man]

I want to speak my mind a little hear as well. I am impartial as to the happenings here, but I do know Tom and have known him for several years.

Some people may forget that it is not his intent to hurt anyone or share any of this music. He loves the music and likes to hear things before there released, as does anyone in this community. I am not saying that maybe he did not lie to a band to get their music, but none of the bands that he asks for music does he just blatantly put it on the internet. I think everyone needs to put this in perspective. We are not dealing with Nickelback here. These are small bands and sometimes his postings about bands generate buzz. In this community that is the only way to sell records. He probably helps more bands being heard than everyone thinks. Yes he is obsessed with getting new material and sometimes that does make him bend the truth, but we all are. As long as all of the fans of this community continue to buy cd's that is what will keep bands continuing to make prog music. He is only a little blip on the radar and will not hurt anyone. As I said, the ones that want to buy cd's will. His does not want to hurt any of these bands.

Take it for what you want, but I believe that some of this is taken too far for what we are delaing with here. We all here download music, please it is part of life now. I always buy what I think is good and it has nothing to do with Tom Argo asking a band 2 months if the release date if he can have it. Yeah it may not be right, but he doesn't share with anyone but himself.

You need to go back and read the comments posted by Ken Golden and Lance King, and you will see what he is doing. Read the last line you wrote and then go and read Lance's comment. Friend or not what he is doing is not ethical by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[nailz]

Is this the same fuckwit who was recording shit at PP?

 

[Bear]

Is this the same fuckwit who was recording shit at PP?

Nope that is an entirely different fuckwit

 

[Progmetalmaniac]

J-Man:

He is not giving it away. Have you seen the Phonomik record anywhere? No, because it is nowhere. So I don't think that some of this is true. As I said its not right, but he is not hurting anyone. HE might have the Phonomik, but no one else does. So what? He's not dumb enough to just put all of the albums on the internet or on his server for people to toake. I think you overestimate his reach.

 

[Cheiron]

J-Man:

He is not giving it away. Have you seen the Phonomik record anywhere? No, because it is nowhere. So I don't think that some of this is true. As I said its not right, but he is not hurting anyone. HE might have the Phonomik, but no one else does. So what? He's not dumb enough to just put all of the albums on the internet or on his server for people to toake. I think you overestimate his reach.

He does offer the albums to other people though. And manipulating bands does not help them, especially if they are using him in a suspected managerial way to get a label, when the band could be spending their time in better ways to get noticed by labels. Then there are other stories in his past where people essentially got conned out of money from him.

 

[Bear]

J-Man:

He is not giving it away. Have you seen the Phonomik record anywhere? No, because it is nowhere. So I don't think that some of this is true. As I said its not right, but he is not hurting anyone. HE might have the Phonomik, but no one else does. So what? He's not dumb enough to just put all of the albums on the internet or on his server for people to toake. I think you overestimate his reach.

Just curious what part of this dont you understand? Or your just going to defend him to the bitter end?

"I could post about 20 emails of outright extortion that Tom sent me and I've saved regarding threats to upload to torrents albums I was planning to release or looking at possibly releasing... What was it he wanted you ask? He wanted unreleased tracks from other bands he didn't have that he knew I had received for label consideration. I of course blew him off!"

If 3 Record label and management people that are highly respected in this community all post their same problems with Tom, trust me when I say that their word goes alot farther.

Bear

 

[MEGALOUD]

Keep in mind this post was meant as a warning for "BANDS" and Musicians in general, I really don't expect "music fans" to necessarily get it or even really care to try and figure it out!

There is a HUGE amount of conversation that may need to take place in order for that to happen, or just years and years of experience as a musician or industry person in general.

Simply put, Tom loves prog metal so much and goes so far with his obsession with lies and manipulations that he not only angers everyone he does it with, he ends up making enemies of them for more than a few reasons.

So it's best to avoid him at all costs, if your a musician that he wants to share his love for....RUN VERY QUICKLY, trust me!

 

[lasercd]

Progmetalmaniac:

You have to be Tom Argo because no one could be stupid enough to actually believe the horseshit you wrote. Ask Vivien Lalu if he agrees with you. Ask bands like Day Six, Crises, Point Of View, and Athem if they agree with you. Everything this guy touches turns to shit. I'm posting this as a warning to bands - stay far away from him.

 

[MEGALOUD]

lol KEN'S RIGHT, it is Tom again disguising himself as someone else on the forums, PROGMETALMANIAC: suit's you so well, I remember this handle from LONG ago, BYE BYE TOM ; )

By the way Tom, right after my post about the PHONOMIK, the bands past manager (something else you managed to mess up) contacted me via skype and informed me he's split with the band, and the deal you manipulated Silverwolf into that screwed up the deal I was working with the band, also fell apart because of your crazy crap. SO NOW the band has nothing, nada, and all because they believed you....
You must be so proud to help young new bands that don't know better to stumble and screw up their careers believing your stupid lines of name dropping crap.

 

[Harvester]

I just confirmed with Deron that Progmetalmaniac is indeed Argo. Wave buh-bye.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

J-Man:

He is not giving it away. Have you seen the Phonomik record anywhere? No, because it is nowhere. So I don't think that some of this is true. As I said its not right, but he is not hurting anyone. HE might have the Phonomik, but no one else does. So what? He's not dumb enough to just put all of the albums on the internet or on his server for people to toake. I think you overestimate his reach.

Yup, as Ken said - ask Vivien Lalu. Anyone who posts / reads the Perpetual Motion Board : Rising will remember that story about how Tom got the only copy of the Lalu disc (besides Vivien himself) and how it ended up on the internet

c.