OLD TIME SAILORS LTD – THE TRUTH BEHIND THE BAND!

The purpose of this informational webpage is to ensure the public and the venues that support and employ ‘The Old Time Sailors LTD’ are fully aware of the business practices employed by Mr Andres Nicolás Guzman and the core associates of this band.

Here is your band from 2024.

We have noted those who weren’t paid for you.

The core members are; Mr Andres Guzman (aka Captain Nick), Patricio Manifesto Sarmiento, Ms Katie Richards, Brisa Vigna, Ignacio Camirroaga, Lazaro Infante and Josefina Duvieilh.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS WEBPAGE, why it exists AND MAKE YOUR OWN MIND UP.

It has come to our attention that members of The Old Time Sailors were arrested by Deven and Cornwall Police on the morning of Monday 19th May on suspected Modern Day Slavery charges. This was a result of an accident in the early morning at Tiverton, Devon between members of The Old Time Sailors van and a heavy goods vehicle. Devonlive.com

Could this accident been a result of playing at the O2 in Liverpool until 10:00PM, then packing up the vans and driving through the night back to Gullworthy so that they could perform again the next day at the Cornishman? As we've mentioned previously (see item 7 in the allegations below) from last years accident, these core members seem to have no regard to the safety and lives of the band members or other road users! Luckily, no one was injured in the accident

It has also been alleged that Old Time Sailors are using songs that are not their property. Please review this video clip from the REAL owners. Instagram video

It's also come to our attention that Mr Guzman is making untrue comments about one of the 2024 band members and her family. If you have any evidence, vidoes or social media chats where these satements are being made, please forward the information to thetruthreporter1@gmail.com

We've also noticed that other members of Facebook have suggested that they are aware of other possible criminal activities by individuals of this band. If you are aware of any improprieties or have witnessed any events that you are concerned might be deemed criminal activities, please report them to Tavistock Police quoting via 101 quoting 50240216490.

Finally, as predicted above, Mr Guzman is stating that there are certain people in the UK who are running a hate campaign against Old Time Sailors and are blackmailing them! One might ask the question -- why would anyone want to do that? Surely, if you are being blackmailed Mr Guzman, why not report that to the police?

We would urge people to reconsider whether they should be supporting a group of individuals that appear to have no moral compass.

This is the band members from last year (2024). For clarity, we have identified those who were NOT paid.

Allegedly Mr Guzman informed the band of various reasons for not being paid, some excuses we know to be lies, but the main one being that the tour went really badly. We ask you wonderful fans that came to the shows last year, did they look like a flop, or did they look like sell-out shows? It's estimated that from the 228 shows in 180 days that this band performed, the prices of most gigs ranged from £1500-£6000. With the merchandise sales included the maths of this means Mr Guzman’s revenue would have been around £500k, yet was unable to pay these members for working every day, which when you add up travel time amounts to 90hrs plus of work a week.

How would the hard working people of the UK feel if you worked for 7 days a week for 6 months solid with virtually no breaks in between shows and at the end of all that hard work, Mr Guzman pays you nothing? In fact, it’s worse than that as all of these people that haven’t been paid have also funded to their own return flights from Argentina of around on average £1200 which was never reimbursed, plus the charge of extending their ticket for the full 6 months which ranged between £500-£1000. One could allege that this looks very much like modern day slavery!

The vast majority of these band members are of Argentinian nationality and therefore have no voice in this country with regards to any legal action that they may wish to take against Mr Guzman.

Who are we you may ask?

We are a collective that have come together to help the victims who currently have no voice after the abuse they endured under the rule of Mr Guzman and those who enable him.

Our reason for doing this is because you, the public, and more importantly the fans as well as the venues employing the band, deserve to know the truth of how those that you have supported and bought tickets, were and are being treated and where your money goes or more specifically, where it doesn’t go.

The 2024 Tour: A financial Overview

Despite this income, numerous individuals were not paid at all—or were only partially compensated. Most were also required to cover their own international flights, costing ~£1200 each, which were never reimbursed.

Key Allegations

Real Stories from Former Band Members

These are not isolated cases. Patterns of abuse, exploitation, and fear-based control are repeatedly described by those who participated in the 2024 tour.

Financial Viability: A Questionable Enterprise

Of course, Mr Guzman has expenses to pay out i.e. Hire of 2 band transporter vans for 6 months, 2 equipment vans, road tax, insurance and MOT’s for his American Winnebago motorhome, Porsche Boxter, BMW Z3 sportster, touring van, removal van, American Damon Daybreak motorhome and canteen / mobile bedroom lorry. Fuel costs for each vehicle. Cost of 3 mobile homes to house the 25 band members plus the rent of the farm space and food costs, UK VAT and Income Tax.

Conclusion: The band, if operated legally and ethically, would not be financially viable. Cutting costs by not paying workers appears to be the method by which Mr. Guzman maintains operations.

Information regarding allegation item 4 above.

These are pictures of the Monopoly style money tokens that Mr Guzman used during the 2024 tour. These were used as a controlling method for members of the band to gain favour with Mr Guzman. The band was split in to Red, Blue, Green and Yellow houses (Harry Potter Style) so that they could compete against each other.

A few months into the tour Mr Guzman initiated a points system, with ‘distinctions’. These were fake printed money with a cartoon of the captain's face and the words ‘Old Time Sailors’ and ‘In Poseidon We Trust’ printed on them, along with Mr Guzman’s character signature. The band was split into 4 teams, and the premise of this was the team with the most points at the end of the tour would receive a prize. You would earn positive points for doing good, and negative points for doing bad. The distinctions earn could be used to buy the drinks (beer, cider or Coca Cola) that the venues would give to the band members for free. They were no longer allowed to consume these at the gigs but would have to wait until they returned back to the base to ask to ‘buy’ them, if they had enough points. The distinctions could also be used to buy things such as large bottles of coca-cola, £1 mini pizzas, and more depending depending on how many points you had.

Now you would think they would earn points for efforts such as doing well on stage, selling a lot of merch, doing something kind for another band member. Alas no, points barely ever got given out for such things. Points would be awarded to the band member who took a photo or video of another member having done things such as not having cleaned up properly or not having turned up to the van in time. One time this was the case as 1 member was carrying drinks for the band from the changing area to the van and they had fallen, so another member came over to help him resulting in them being 1 minute late. Despite this the pair of them still received negative points whilst the member who took the video showing they weren’t there was awarded the positive points. There was also the issue that those Mr Guzman favoured (coincidently mainly the core group) would receive the most positive points whilst those he took issue with received most negative points. Allegedly and according to what we have seen, the most points would be received if someone told Mr Guzman that another band member was speaking badly about the band or most importantly, him.

Information regarding allegation item 5 above.

Next is the matter of those who left before the tour finished.

On the 21st July at the XChurch Music Festival, the first member to leave was one of the photographers. He had been informed by Mr Guzman a couple of months into the tour that he would not be getting paid for his work as initially agreed as Mr Guzman was allegedly unsatisfied with his work, despite the fact he had seen the quality of the photographers work and he had been working like the others non-stop every day. From this moment the photographer received grief from certain core members, causing him a great deal of stress and anxiety.

The day he decided to leave he had secretly packed his bags in the middle of the night and hid them in the back of the van that he travelled in. Once arriving at the festival that the band were playing at, he informed some of the core members that he would be leaving and that he had his bags with him. These core members proceeded to take him to one side to talk to him and try and persuade him to return to the base to talk to Mr Guzman, which he didn’t want to do because of the trauma he had already endured, he just wanted to leave. Whilst this was happening the other core members took his belongings and locked them in the van they travelled in. They refused to return his belongings to him, which included his passport, until he had copied all video and photo content over to them and wiped it from his computer.

This was on the orders of Mr Guzman. Mr Guzman’s argument was the photos belonged to him as the photographer had signed a contract. Once again this is a contract that he wouldn’t have received a copy of, and he never actually signed anything. However, using threats of suing and imprisonment the photographer ended up not calling the UK police which is what he wanted to do and agreed reluctantly to hand over his footage. He was then allowed to leave where he struggled to keep himself safe until his flight home. He has lost all his life savings, and is psychologically affected from the abuse he received. None of the band members were allowed to reach out to him to check if he was okay, because those who leave are shunned and it is prohibited to speak to them. The fear of getting caught was too much for them to risk it.

On the 12th August 2024, upon returning to the Devon base from DevaFest in Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire, the second member of the band, Emanuel Vazquez was dropped at Bristol Welcome Break services at approximately 3am in the middle of the night with no money or personal possessions. It’s alleged this was on the orders of Mr Guzman. His crime? He said something derogatory in jest about Mr Guzman in the van which was secretly being recorded by one of the band members and reported to Mr Guzman. Why was this private conversation secretly recorded? Because of the points system that had been put in place.

On 12th August 2024, after arriving back at the Devon base at 7am from Devafest, the third member of the band, Franco Galante was asked to leave the band and travel in the van with some of the core members where he was dropped off at a motorway service station and left there for several hours, again without any money until someone returned and then took him to Exeter Train Station. He was abandoned here without any money or means to travel or pay for accommodation all with the full knowledge of Mr Guzman and the other core members of this band! His crime....he had sniggered at Mr Vazquez's comment whilst they were in the van together the previous day.

On 13th August 2024, the only British band member, Amy Harrison, left the band. The actions of what Mr Guzman had done being the final straw. She had been in great distress with how these band members had been treated, along with the mistreatment she had endured over the months, and didn't want to be a part of the band any longer. As the band members were prohibited from contacting or helping these 2 band members who had been kicked out and left she was in a highly stressful situation, as she was aware they had nowhere to go, no money and knew no one who could help house them. Though it went against the rules she contacted friends and family secretly to coordinate somewhere safe for the both of them, which caused further stress that was visible to the core members which worried them, as god forbid the venue audiences might have seen her distress. Her punishment for being visibly upset and having a panic attack? Getting shouted at and filmed by Ms Katie Richards. She was able to leave and get back to family but is still suffering with PTSD from the treatment she received from Mr Guzman and Ms Richards.

Information regarding allegation item 7 above.

These very disturbing pictures below were taken after an accident on the 24th August whilst travelling to a venue where they were due to perform. The driver was enroute from their base at Hurlditch Horn farm, to a farm along the lane towards Morwellham Quay having had only a few hours sleep. None of the occupants of the van at the time of the accident were taken to hospital to be checked for injuries. Each year since 2021 those who drive the vans have reported that they have fallen asleep at the wheel at some point due to lack of sleep. Mr Guzman is aware of this but is still willing to make his workers drive in these conditions and put them and the general public in danger if it means they get their gigs every day.

This is an Old Time Sailors (read that as Mr Guzman) Argentinian Facebook post, basically accusing members of the band that have taken Mr Guzman to court in Argentina, of lieing about not being paid.

We thought members of the UK public would be interested in this post.

Uilleann Pipe Facebook Page .

The following is a translation of a Facebook post from a an associate of Old Time Sailors on a Facebook group called Uilleann Pipe Argentina. This has been posted by the person in Argentina that produces the art work for Mr Guzman. It is basically denouncing the band members of the Old Time Sailors Ltd who have taken Mr Guzman to court after their non payment of wages after the 2021 and 2022 tour.

Note that the only comment on the post is from Ms Katie Richards with the #westandwithyou as she has never spoken up for them and has carried on with the 2023 and 2024 tour where the same things have happened.

So it would seem that Ms Katie Richards is allegedly more than happy to see members of the band being defrauded of their wages?

Note: This is a Google translation in to English of the Spanish Facebook Page.

Musicians and members of Old Time Sailors have an obligation to defend ourselves publicly against the scams that certain people have been circulating on the networks. We are being victims of a group of people who, acting as an illicit association, are doing everything possible to ruin this project where many musicians are involved.

They are using the tool of scratching impunished and unfairly, without presenting any evidence. Many musicians have gone through our project, and as with any large project there is always someone who is dissatisfied and causing problems. But even so most have become conform, having lived a unique experience. We are currently being victimized by a minority, which ironically calls itself the “majority”.

We have resorted to justice, as we have ample evidence in our favor, including signed documents, and fortunately we are moving forward on that front as it should be. They have not gone to justice because they have no evidence in their favor, then instead they abuse the scrap as a social tool to damage our project and our image. Today we want to tell you who these people are so that they are aware and help us spread this message. These people we are going to mention have made countless efforts to destroy us, among these actions we can list:

call all our clients to cancel our dates,
send us to the police 10 times during our Europe tour with fabricated reports of drugs, guns, slaves and abuse to try to get us deported (they failed because there's nothing like that),
communicate with all our musicians and people who were considering joining our project to convince them to get down, they managed to get down many musicians during our tour, including the lead singer, causing damage economics of all kinds,
created fake instagram accounts of our project to defame us,
created and circulated flyers on social networks and whatsapp saying we are a scam, and many people who don't even know us shared them unscrupulously. Of course they never present evidence, because if they had it they would make a trial as appropriate. But since their plan is to destroy, for personal reasons, what they do is this: try to get the world to cancel our project.

The people responsible for these acts are by order of relevance and citing their instagram accounts: @daniboyw (Daniel Ernesto Wechsler) @chakal_the_bard (Lucas Ordoñes) @julianbrenlle (Julian Moreno) @ateerreeeee (Alberto Lamberti, aka “Nicolas Mur”) @bruno_alesso (Bruno Alesso) @angryzeta (the whole band and their whole social circle repeating what they say without ever hearing the other bell) @zetabodrio (Dario Vaccaro) @waltzer_is_dead (Pablo Ferrando) @jumamolina (Juan Manuel Molina) @martinbobrik (Martin Bobrik)

We have sent letters documented and cited mediation to all of these people. Obviously they hide and don't appear. We have also filed a criminal complaint, which you can corroborate with these data: Denuncia 962685, fiscalia note tel 52978100 int 8102 o 8147 mpf 569999. We ask you to please circulate this and in case of any doubt, consult us. We have plenty of evidence and we're here to show up, because we have nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, we're proud of our project and how far we've come. We are convinced that the biggest motivators behind the intentions of these people are envy, greed, jealousy, and pettiness. We can prove all this case by case, story by story, individual by individual, with extensive evidence, chats, audios, calls, signed documents, and testimonies from many witnesses.

They say they have "many" witnesses, but if you ask them, it turns out that they are people repeating what they heard from someone else. They are not real witnesses. Just people repeating because they “believe their friend”. Please help us fight this injustice, help that there are no people like this, who abuse a resource that real victims of abuse need to defend themselves. We are:

@captainicholasmoffat (Nicolas) @marmet.fabian (Fabian) @cliff.cayena (Patricio) @el.vago.acorazado (Juan) @martinpinola (Martin) @federicomontalibet (Fede) @mrs.mooley (Josefina) @lazarvs_eim (Lazaro) @fvaira20 (Franco) @dalkesdalkes (Andres) @katieswimsandmakes (Katie) And you can also ask for references from these people: @sma.crossharp (Sebastian) @alejandronavoa (Alejandro) @alexsganga21(Alejandro @ralphtueromusica (Raul) @dane.a.crljen (Dane) @kevin.apf (Kevin) @claudiotoscanini (Claudio) @juliantavela (Julian) @andres_sardone (Andres) @hernan.wind (Hernan) @gonzalezangelemanuel (Angel) All these people have come to our tours, are real witnesses, and will give a good reference about their experience in our project. We can fight false testimonies, individual by individual, with ample evidence. For any doubt please contact us. If these criminals contact you, we ask you to also notify us, so we can report them to justice. Please tip @captainnicholasmoffat on instagram. Thank you.

Legal Action and Investigations

A Final Word

We expect Mr. Guzman and his supporters to deny these allegations. However, we ask you to consider this:

If dozens of people—year after year—step forward with consistent stories of exploitation, threats, and abandonment, isn’t it time to listen?

Please share this page and help us bring justice to those who brought you joy through their music, only to be silenced and unpaid for their efforts.