Humans of Frome: Andy Wrintmore

Sometimes being a shop assistant is a thankless task (I should know… I am one), dealing with disgruntled shoppers who may have had to stand in line a little longer than usual, or have had to rush through a rainstorm for the annoying pint of milk that they should have picked up the last two times they’ve been in the same shop in the same day. 

It’s all upsetting stuff, life is just a pain sometimes and its hard to remain in a good mood all of the time.  As a shopkeeper there are ways of dealing with negative experiences,  you can use the old ‘kill them with kindness’ method or the ‘disappearing into your own dream world’ technique….or you can of course mix the two together to create an altogether unique shopping experience much like Andy Wrintmore this week’s human does.

Interviewing him was a joy, not least because he’s an interesting chap but also because finding more out about him is exactly what Humans of Frome is all about.  Most of us pick up the pint of milk and leave, some of us might wonder a little more about the giant of a chap (he is 6’9”) who served us down the Co-op, others might wonder at the confident friendly fellow who seems very comfortable in his own skin and never can quite seem to stop banging on the lids of your tins of beans as they go into the shopping bag.

For those of you who don’t already know, Andy is a Frome FM DJ in his other life, the one lived outside the Co-op. He presents a show called Velocity Rock  which is billed as a fast paced, in your face weekly Rock, Punk & Metal radio show (which  also syndicates to The States, Malta and other British Internet radio stations), he is also a drummer in the Frome punk band ‘SickOnes’ who are gathering quite the fan-base and garnering praise as they go.

A few years down the line and his mission is ‘to bring you YOUR weekly dose of the best face melters, local heroes and one or two slower epic’s in case you can’t handle it!’  seems to be going from strength to strength.  He has conducted interviews with anyone he wants, he merely picks up the phone and asks. In his time he has interviewed Tony Hawk, John Cooper Clarke, Frank Carter from Gallows and Don Broco to name a few.

Having your own radio show and holding down a job at the Co-op is not bad going at the age of 24 but add to that his main work, being one third of SickOnes, a band on the up.

Andy’s easygoing personality and drumming prowess hasn’t gone unnoticed by Frome rock royalty Huey Morgan who has called Andy into some drumming sessions of late.  It would seem that Andy’s star is in the ascendant and with a little luck, hard work and the kind of determination that has got him this far we might be sitting back and watching another of Frome’s own taking the world by storm.

SickOnes who work with a DIY ethos have just filmed, directed and edited a video for their new track ‘I Don’t Exist’ – check it out on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/sickonesuk

Catch Velocity Rock on FromeFM every Tuesday night at 9pm www.facebook.com/velocityRockRadio

To read Andy’s story in full please visit Humans of Frome on Facebook.