He says the report, which came out earlier this week, was published without the full sign off of the Vice President Union Development.

Apparently, the report was a draft which NUS has now stated does not reflect the policies of NUS.
Raja provided a statement from the NUS, which said: “Due to an NUS staff error, a draft report was published without the full sign off of the Vice President Union Development.

“It contained some recommendations that do not reflect the policy of NUS. With this in mind, the report has been retracted and a new report with the relevant alterations will be released later this week. NUS apologises for any inconvenience.”

Swansea Students’ Union President, Zahid Raja said he was annoyed that the report had been recalled.

“Quite a few students have already replied to the consultation and this will mean students have less time to reply to the new report.
“What I would say about this report and the new one is that no one should take it as gospel. Use the findings and recommendations as a starting point. I’m not entirely chuffed with what it has to say but you’ll find that nobody 100% agrees with everything anyone has to say on this matter.
“This is about getting close to five positions as we can so we help the most people.”
“Also, if you’re upset that only 250 filled out the survey then use it as a wake-up call to speak to your flat mates or course mates about how important it is that they have their say in the online consultation when the new report comes out.”

If you have any questions about the report or the process, please contact nusuk@nus.org.uk.

And it’s claimed the move is being made without taking into account the views of students, as had previously been promised.

Earlier this term, students voted to reduce the number of full-time officers from 7 to 5 to save money so that more full-time staff members could be employed to provide services across two campuses.

From Wednesday 11th December to Saturday 14th December students are being given the opportunity to discuss which positions will be cut in a series of consultation workshops.

However, a source who asked to remain anonymous claimed that Swansea University Students’ Union President Zahid Raja has already decided to axe the International Officer role before these consultations, despite the fact that the new Bay Campus could have a 50% ratio of international students when it opens in 2015.

After the vote, Swansea University Students’ Union asked the National Union of Students to compile a report suggesting which roles should be cut, following a consultation of Swansea students.

But The Waterfront has learned from a leaked email that the NUS will not be taking the student consultation data into account when compiling their report.

Chris Flynn, Chairman of the Welsh Democratic Procedures Committee at NUS Wales said: “I think it’s a real shame if the NUS aren’t going to take student input into consideration for these consultations seeing as it is the students who will be most affected by this decision.”

A Swansea University Students’ Union spokesperson said: “No decisions regarding the five roles have yet been made. The union is waiting for the publication of the independent report from NUS and for the completion of the current consultation period before any decisions are to be made.”

However students attending a QAA session with International Officer Eva Donoghue claim she told them her role would be absorbed into another post.

Ms Donoghue said: “I see the importance of my job everyday when I work with students, so I will definitely be fighting for this role to be kept.
“With the opening of the second campus I also hope other students will appreciate the need for an international officer.”

She has been named as Jayne Parker, 47, a cook at the hospital.

She was taken by ambulance to Morriston Hospital, but later died of her injuries.

South Wales Police are appealing for witnesses of the incident to come forward.

A force spokesperson said: “The collision happened on the southbound carriageway of Sketty Lane in the general direction of Mumbles Road when a female pedestrian was in collision with a silver coloured Seat Leon.”

A driver arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving following the collision has been released on police bail.

There will be music, speeches, and poems from the African Caribbean society at the front of Fulton House starting around 1.40pm on Monday.

The chaplaincy is also expected to read a short prayer as well.

Mandela was the first black president of South Africa and was a key activist in the anti-apartheid movement, spending over a quarter of a century in prison, most of which was in spent in the notorious Robben Island prison.

Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister said Mandela was a “great man” who had made racism “not just immoral but stupid”.

Barack Obama commented that he was “a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice”.

Prof Nigel Piercy (pictured) says the reforms brought in by himself and his deputy (and son), Prof Niall Piercy, will improve results and help grow the reputation of the school.

But teaching staff say the changes have been made without any consultation and that the atmosphere in the school is now “toxic”. Seven staff have handed in their notice since the changes were introduced.

In an interview with The Waterfront, Prof Nigel Piercy said there had been “a few tantrums along the way” but that the reforms were necessary because the school had “a lot of catching up to do”.

“We are not doing what we should do to be part of the global scholarly community, either in terms of teaching and global research,” he said.

“We need a situation where a graduate sits in front of a potential employer and the employer has heard of the school and knows what it stands for. We want our graduates to stand out from the crowd.
“So what we’ve done is we’ve put in seminars and tutorials on all programmes without option, as they have largely disappeared. There is a much bigger emphasis this year on small group teaching and more contact hours.
“There is a guarantee that these seminars will be taught by Swansea staff, not by PHD students, that’s a promise to the students.”

But some students are unhappy, complaining that they weren’t consulted on the changes made over the summer.

Economics students claim that the changes have devalued their degree with the shortening of the dissertation to a few thousand word essay.

One economics student, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “On this dissertation module, they’ve kind of told us funding had been cut for it, so we don’t have a dissertation tutor anymore. There’s just someone who we see as a group of 20 every five weeks at most? Doesn’t really give us much of a chance to get anything from it.
“Also, I went to the open day economics talk with my cousin, and they’ve cut down the economics courses offered. There used to be financial economics, economics BSc, economics BA etc and now they’ve just got economics BSc and PPE.
“People are quite concerned whether they are trying to push economics out of the department; which would be odd considering economics is one of the things the university isn’t actually too bad at.”

Mr Piercy said: “There was a fair amount of discussion mainly at an informal level with student groups. When you read the things people have said, it is chilling. And many of the things we have done hone in very specifically on those comments.”

“About waiting three months for the return of a piece of coursework. The guarantee now is the maximum of three weeks,” said Prof Piercy.

Staff have also been up in arms, especially over the dean’s proposals to move some staff to teaching-only roles.

A University and Colleges Union spokesman said: “At UCU meetings, staff described management style as ‘autocratic’. Many colleagues were visibly distressed and upset during these meetings. Among the many adjectives used to describe the atmosphere in the school was ‘toxic’.
“Members have complained of having to teach modules beyond their area of expertise and significantly increased teaching for some staff.
“UCU has expressed its concern to university management about the lack of consultation, about quality assurance with respect to programme changes, and about the system being used to determine staff workloads.
“UCU intervention has resulted in the removal of an explicit workload policy which favoured REF-submitted staff.
“We are disturbed to have learned that, over the last month, seven members of staff from the School of Management have handed in their resignations.
“We also understand that a number of other staff are considering leaving. Whilst anyone’s reason for leaving employment is confidential, we believe that it is no coincidence that these resignations come at this time.”

In fact the department is currently recruiting for almost a dozen senior lecturing positions.

When asked about staff who were disgruntled about the changes, Prof Piercy said: “If you see you don’t like what’s happening the honest thing to do is to say move on. No problem whatever with that.
“At a human level I’m very sympathetic… you get organisations where people get settled in their ways, then someone comes along and changes the rules.
“I know exactly what it feels like, but when we start to achieve the things we want, the improved status, better reputation. The experience is things settle down, especially when people start seeing the benefits.”

A Swansea University spokesman said: “The new dean, Professor Nigel Piercy, is implementing a programme of change at Swansea University School of Management, as part of the university’s strategic aim to be a top 30 UK university by 2017.
“We are also determined to drive forward our ambition to grow the School of Management, ready for its move to the new Bay Campus.”

Meanwhile, UCU is continuing to discuss the situation with university management: “We have received assurances that in the future there will be consultation with both staff and UCU on changes affecting teaching, and on other significant changes having an impact on members in the school.”

Students have already voted to reduce the number of full-time officers’ roles from seven to five.

The new officer roles will be decided through an independent report from the NUS. A survey by NUS gathered responses from Swansea University students in a short online poll and the results and recommendations were to be brought to the forum for the student vote.

A preliminary report from NUS was due to be discussed at the student forum on Friday 6th December, but the debate has been postponed until the January student forum.

The notice of polls, which is a requirement and the first step in the students’ union election process could be posted before the first student forum of 2014, to be held on Thursday 30th January.

This means that students may not have a chance to debate or vote on the five officer roles before they have been decided.
This week’s student forum will now discuss the QAA review, which is described as the “Ofsted for Universities” by students’ union president Zahid Raja.

There are fears that forum will be poorly attended, however, because of the time and place. The venue has been changed and the meeting will now take place in the council chambers at the abbey.

The day is also different, from the regular Tuesday or Thursday slot to a Friday evening.

The monthly student forums have been held in the refectory this year and mid-week to promote student engagement.

In addition, the promotion of the event has been criticised by students.

Josh Hale, MSc Psychological Research Methods student, said: “Although they’ve put a list of dates up for the year, I’ve seen no other advertising. I didn’t even know they moved it and as an active committee member of three societies I’d have expected to have found out or heard about it. It’s a nice venue and professional but can be intimidating to students who haven’t been there before.”

Some students have confirmed they won’t be attending the forum because Friday nights have work or social commitments.

The forum, which starts at 6pm, is on the same night as the most popular students’ union society event, the Hogwarts Yule Ball.
“I will be getting ready for the Yule Ball in the refectory that evening!” said Leigh Moss, president of the Hogwarts Society.
Suggestions for moving the forum to the Hive, the students’ union space for meetings and talks, were dismissed by students’ union president Zahid Raja.

Raja said: “The dates for student forums are set in the diary at the start of the year – this year, in the spirit of openness and transparency, I made a decision to publish these on the website at the start of the year. We haven’t changed the date or time for any of these meetings since their publication. The Hogwarts society required the Refectory and Cafe West for their Yule Ball. I saw fit to move the forum to another flat-floored space in the university.

“Currently, the only time students visit the abbey building is if they are facing an appeal / disciplinary / if they are attending a senior university meeting. Exposing this part of the university to students as somewhere where we can hold open public meetings and events will reduce the overwhelming feeling that student attending appeals / senior meetings / disciplinary often feel. I won’t make an apology for trying to open up more areas of the university to students.”

The event, which took place from November 25th to November 29th, was organised by part-time disability officer, Tori Evans.

She said: “Invisible illness Week is important to me because so many people suffer in silence. A lot of people don’t look for help because they are embarrassed or don’t think they deserve it.

“The whole point of the week is to get people talking about invisible illnesses and to remember and acknowledge what we so often ignore.

“Not only will it help people share their stories and end stigma but will also encourage those who need to look for help and to know that they deserve it just as much as anyone else does.

“I’ve already had an overwhelming response from students and feel like the week has achieved loads of things that I wanted to, which is amazing.”

SAMANTHA: How are you feeling about touring Splinter? What are you most excited for?

GARY: The album has had, by far, the best reaction of any album I’ve ever released so that’s a very reassuring thing to be aware of as a tour looms. It gives you a lot of confidence that you can draw heavily from that album and know that the songs are liked. I’ve already played a number of shows in the US in support of the album so I know it works well live. I have a lot of confidence in it translating well from CD to stage in the UK. One of the most exciting things about the UK leg of the tour is that it has a brand new, and considerably improved, light show and production compared to other things I’ve done over the last 20 years. It’s a serious step up. That is what I’m most excited about.

SAMANTHA: Do you have a particular touring memory that you are fond of; and a memory that you’d perhaps rather forget?

GARY: I love touring so, for me, it’s all about building good memories. I love to travel, I’m very happy living in a bus, I love the people I work with (my band are amongst my very closest friends) and my wife Gemma always travels with me. It’s always a happy and party-like atmosphere amongst us all when I’m on the road so it really doesn’t have a bad side. Each day you arrive somewhere new, you explore if possible, play your songs to people that know you and, for the most part, like what you do, people cheer and scream, it’s all very exciting, and then you get back on the bus and have fun through the night until you’re ready to give up on that day and go to sleep. Every tour is an adventure; they all have their moments of stress, and extreme highs. Some are more of a worry than others but touring is the thing that I love about being in a band above everything else.

SAMANTHA: Have you noticed a change in your audiences over the years? Do you still see the same people coming to gigs who have been fans since the beginning?

GARY: It’s definitely changed. Although I still see a lot of the older faces, and I’m very grateful for that, they’re less each time, or it certainly looks that way. But, replaced by a new generation it seems. I have always said that as fans get older it becomes more difficult for them to maintain the same level of interest as they did when they were young. Kids, mortgages, careers, all these things take their toll on someone’s ability to indulge in music to the same level, and so, you see a gradual ‘falling off’ of numbers of older fans. This is normal and to be expected. What you need for a long career to survive is for those people to be replaced, so to speak, and this is where I’ve been very lucky. Over the last few albums I’ve seen a huge surge in interest in what I do, and credibility from what I’ve done before, amongst younger people so I’ve not only been able to maintain numbers of fans but increase them. Having said that it’s still an ongoing challenge to keep things moving upwards and this tour is another part of that particular battle. There are a lot of very good bands all making good music so you have to deliver both on stage and with the albums that you release. Competition never goes away, and it gets harder all the time to stay successful.

SAMANTHA: Is it ever frustrating that songs like ‘Cars’ and ‘Are Friends Electric?’ became so popular? And do you ever feel they steal attention away from your other material?

GARY: I’ve learnt to be proud of those two songs. I think most songwriters would dream of writing something that did that well and has lasted that long. Cars is arguably one of the most famous songs in the world and I’m very proud of that. But, it’s also true to say that I haven’t always felt that way. For a long time I almost resented them as they seemed to get in the way of everything else I tried to do. Luckily, things are going much better these days and so I no longer see those two songs as frustrating ties to the past, more a glorious part of it. The new Splinter album has had the best reviews I’ve ever had, after 35 years in the music business, so I think it’s okay for me to relax a bit with my current position in the industry and enjoy the fact that I wrote Cars and Are Friends Electric.

SAMANTHA: Has being a parent had an effect on how your music is made? Does your family have an influence on the music?

GARY: It’s meant that I’ve had to learn how to have both, a busy music career and a busy family life, and work them together. It’s taken me many years unfortunately to find that magical middle ground between career and family, and it remains a big challenge, but I think I’m about there now. I’m a very hands on parent and I love being with the family, but I need to work hard, and constantly, to keep things going financially so it’s not an easy situation, far from it. Creatively they have no influence on the music as far as opinions and suggestions go, but they feature in it often as subjects and emotional situations to write about. I worry about them obviously, their future, and that pops up a lot in songs. During the making of Splinter I went through several years of depression when I didn’t write a thing, much of that came from my struggles to adapt to being a parent, my marriage became a little shaky, and so all of that is in the new album. So, in many ways, being a parent, having a family, definitely has an effect on the music I make. The thing is though, whatever part of my brain is creative, is only triggered by darker things. So, I’m never going to write a song about what a good day I’ve just had. A good day wouldn’t trigger anything creative in me. But, if I have a bad day, or a sad day, I’m far more likely to find a need to want to write about that. The trick is I guess, writing about it in a way that avoids making music that’s depressing. You still want the music to be powerful and a good listening experience. I think I managed to do that really well with Splinter.

SAMANTHA: There are many critics commenting on your music’s evolution but, in your opinion, how do you think your music has evolved over the last 35 years?

GARY: I have tried many things musically over the years to try and broaden my skills as a songwriter and as a musician. Not all of those things were successful but they were all important in me finding my way to where I am now. I have built up a vast library of experiences in songwriting, recording and performing over the years but I have never felt more at home than where I am now, musically speaking. Most people seem to think that Splinter is either the best album I’ve ever made, or certainly one of the best, so I can’t grumble about any mistakes I might have made in the past that littered the road I took to get here.

I have always been interested in creating new sounds, in making each album a step forward from the last (haven’t always succeeded at that but that’s been the ambition). I am totally driven by melody first, everything else next, and that, perhaps, shines through in the songwriting. I have no interest in the past, in nostalgia, and so I’m always looking at tomorrow, at what I can do better. I do not live on past glories, I have no interest in past glories, my only interest is trying to write something better than I’ve written before, something new, something that no-one has heard before. Most people that have long careers tend to bland out somewhat as they get older. They get safer, more middle of the road. I seem to be going in the opposite direction. My music is now darker, heavier and more aggressive than it’s ever been.

SAMANTHA: What still excites you about working in the industry?

The same things that excited me when I made my first single back in 1978. There is nothing better than being in a band. This is everything.

Shagatuni.com is “the UK’s naughtiest student hook up site”, but after a dabble in the online single world, I discovered that the site is not exclusively for fun-loving students.

While the homepage of the website presents you with the profiles of young, attractive students, after signing up under a false name, using a very old photo of myself, I quickly saw that most of the men on the website were older. They would rarely say hello before saying exactly what they wanted to shove in startling places.

Two hours into my research, and I’d received 42 messages. Admittedly, everyone likes a little ego boost and I felt quite chuffed. But I was surprised to see that of the 13 people who had ‘favourited’ my profile, only one was in his 20s.

It is easy to see how the website would appeal to busy students – studying hard and partying doesn’t leave much time for a serious relationship, and it’s understandable that a lot of people would fancy some casual fun. As long as it is safe and everyone agrees on the rules, what’s the harm?

For people who know exactly what they are getting into on a website like this, I say go for it. But I quickly discovered that it is not just harmless fun.

In the interest of fairness, I asked a male friend to sign up at the same time as me to see if women were quite as forward with their messages. That’s when we discovered that men have to pay to use the website.

While I could message people to my heart’s content, asking for pictures of them and if they were interested in “NSA fun” (no strings attached), men had to pay to do this?! This left me wondering why. Surely most students are able to go out and meet people at clubs or university? Why do we need to waste our hard earned loans on ‘hook up sites’?

I found that lots of the men felt the same way, as I had a few guys ask me why I was on the website, not out picking up guys on the streets of Swansea.

So who is actually on this site?

Of all the messages I received, for the most part the frankly frightening ones were from older men, labelling themselves ‘unhappily married’. These were the only men I chose to respond to simply by saying “I don’t talk to married men”.

Knowing their wives were probably only a room away from them while they trawled the internet for young and potentially vulnerable students infuriated me.

Most of the students who messaged me were very polite and articulate, and led me to believe that we are not just a generation of Jeremy Kyle layabouts.

I can also now say I’ve been invited to a “gangbang party”, with travel and accommodation paid for and “£500 at the end of the party for the party girl”. I think they thought I was a prostitute. Oh dear.

It can be argued that anyone who signs up for this knows what they’re getting, and to an extent I agree. But after one hopeless romantic had continuously messaged me, even giving out his address and phone number, my lack of response inspired him to ask, “why u being a bitch”. I was absolutely fuming. What right do blokes on the internet have to abuse someone just because they don’t reply to a creepy message?!

What surprised me the most (other than the gangbang party and men older and balder than my granddad trying it on) was how willingly these guys would give out photos, and would ask to Skype. It’s almost like they have not spent their days watching This Morning, learning about the dangers of cybersex from Holly and Phil!

You can filter messages to within a certain age range so you don’t find out what 64 year olds would like to do to you. But as this was in the name of journalism, I allowed all messages.

Despite “an auto ‘Not interested’ response sent on your behalf to —- because their message was outside your inbox filters”, lots of the same guys would continue to send filthy messages.

Now that my research is finished, I can’t wait to delete the profile and forget some of the things that had been said. Ultimately, it’s all about personal choice. If you sign up to one of these websites, you just have to know exactly what you’re going to get.

A lot of creepy old men, a few rude people, and you will see more penises than you ever, ever needed to see. So to anyone who is going to sign up, have lots of fun – but be safe. Be cautious and upmost, be prepared.

The following quotes are some of the cleaner messages received on Shagatuni.com so potential users can see what they’re letting themselves in for! Don’t read these if you are easily offended. (Names have been changed)

Fred, 19: “Well well well girl I love [a different word for cat] nowt more to say… I’m up for a bit of fun, nowt more to say.”

Jim, 50: “Does enjoying life extend to chatting with older married guys? If so maybe drop a quick hello and maybe we can chat and have a laugh?”

Ted, 47: “Horny – After a bit of sexy chat this afternoon as I am all alone in my office and feeling a bit naughty xxx”

Brian, 36: “I wondered if you love gangbang parties too or would like to try one perhaps? I run ‘The UK Gangbang Club’ if you wanted to come along one weekend for a party? It’s a Gentlemen’s Club and the guys that attend are nice, clean and friendly and it’s safe. Your travel costs are paid for, accommodation is provided and I’ve a website too if you’d like to see?”

Neil, 39: “You’re hot, I am 6 foot tall, right now I have **** thinking about you, want to see send email address, I would eat ***** until you are screaming for me… then I would ***** you until you ****. The reason I have no face pic is because of work, apparently I am cute.”

Carl, 23: “Just got into bed… Completely naked and starting to touch myself! Don’t suppose you fancy a sexy chat?? Promise you I will work hard to turn you on… Give me a shot!”

The crowd in The Globe, Cardiff tonight are jumping up and down furiously, shouting themselves hoarse as they scream angsty, sarcastic lyrics back to frontman Matt Bowman.

Wrapped up in microphone leads and whipping up a fury on stage, the venue can barely accommodate the massive presence and frenetic energy of the Northern indie-rock outfit.

Luckily, I got to speak band members Jimmi Naylor (on drums), Ryan Wilson (rhythm guitar) and bassist Dave Best before they start working up a sweat on stage.

Crammed into a cupboard sized room with the industrial groaning of the sound check creeping under the door, it’s hard to imagine the calm and collected, well-groomed men in front of me becoming the frenzied animals I know them to be on stage.

Having heard lots about their summer festival experiences, we start talking festival season. It becomes apparent very quickly that the boys prefer playing the smaller independent festivals despite having played the Saturday at V Festival this year.

“Although V festival was really good and there was a big crowd, one of our favourites was Brownstock which is making quite a name for itself right now.”

“It were a really good little set up,” Ryan chips in with his Northern twang . “Some of the bigger festival, no disrespect to the people who go to them but I think perhaps they go to just get absolutely leathered. Some of the smaller, less corporate ones, it seems the people are more into the music”.

When asked about their festival essentials, the boys come up with a few obvious (and some less so) suggestions; “money for food and drink, face wipes, deep -heat for performances, Diorolyte for when ” … at Jimmi’s last suggestion I quickly turn the conversation over to their latest DJ’ing ventures!

Jimmi: “We’ve been Dj’ing for a couple of years now, when we started getting bigger as a band, clubs started asking us to DJ at after-parties – to put our name against the set y’know? It’s easy but enjoyable”

Ryan: “Our first DJ session, we just turned up with our iPods! The resident DJ there was like ‘what the …..?’ But we’ve got better at it and we’ve DJ’ed all across England and Scotland now. We do Propaganda quite a bit – it’s the biggest indie night across the country.”

Finally I strike a topic that provokes a response from bassist Dave Best.Having mentioned their performance of Avril Lavigne’s ‘Girlfriend’ in the Radio 1 Live Lounge and asking what they would cover if ever asked back, Dave springs into action.

“Oooooh there’s that new Sugar Babes songs in’t ther? CHOOOOON”  he says excitably looking at his fellow PD’s.

Touring since the 17th of September following the release of their fourth album ‘We Met at Sea’, the boys divulge their less-than-wild touring antics.

“Since we’ve become a bit bigger, we just sort of get chauffeured to and from hotels and venues.  We’re never on the bus long enough for it to get messy even.” Jimmi takes charge again as Dave turns his attention to a banana.

“When we first began, it was hard being on tour for weeks and weeks. Imagine being in a boy’s bedroom…. it stinks! With twelve men on a bus, by the fourth week its like ‘oh God’”

“What do you miss most about home?” I ask. The normal answers emerge; Sky TV, a home sofa, the other half, specific teabags. However, I quickly uncover that the absence of Yorkshire tea aboard the tour was a big problem for guitarist Ryan Wilson than I could have anticpated.

Following a tweet complaining about just that, Ryan reveals how a special box of Yorkshire tea was sent to the boys by the Yorkshire tea team! This is evidently a good move on their behalf as the boys look ecstatic!

Talking of twitter, I ask the boys about their less -than-shy approach to social networking sites, referring to occasions when the PD’s have addressed ‘dirty little gig b****es’ and thanked ‘sexy Scottish b*stards’ via tweet.

“That’s just generally the way we talk”, explains Jimmi. “It’s kinda post gig excitement that. You’re still buzzing y’know.”

“We’re obviously quite energetic on stage and it passes onto the crowd. Half the time you come of stage and we’re all still ‘adrenalined up’. We feed off the crowd as much as they feed off us. I think we just get a bit excited”.

Considering the commitment from their followers, particularly from one fan as Ryan lets on, it seems to be a rather successful if not conventional method of communication!

“Jimmi’s genuinely got a stalker,” he explains. “Anytime Jimmi mentions anything on twitter or either of us mention Jimmi , this one particular lad goes crazy. He turned up in a bar in York once because he thought Jimmi was going to be there!”

The interruptions from the sound check going on outside are a reminder that the boys soon have business to attend to. I asked them how they prepared before going on stage. “Matt drinks half a pint of Gin”, says Dave piping up again for a few seconds.

“The rest of us are pretty chilled out ; couple of beers, have a chat, rub each other down and go on stage,” Ryan clarifies. When it comes to chilling out afterwards, “We’re all a bit different actually” he says.

“Sometimes after a good gig, adrenalines still going, some band members will run to the nearest bar and go party and some just want to chill out. Depends on how much energy you have after the gig really”.

Jimmi adds in, “We’re generally more chilled because it’s so intense. For about ten minutes after, we don’t even really like to be bothered because we just need to sit down. We’re all a little bit achey and tired but you don’t feel it when you’re up there playing, it’s generally the next day when you’re like ‘ooooh me back!’

When asked about the contrasting response to the new album between the fans and the critics. Ryan said, “I’m not denying it’s nice to get good reviews but it has to be more about what the fans think. The last album we felt we were stereotyped a bit and it can p*ss you off when you put a lot of time and money into an album but its water off a duck’s back really. The fans seem to like it and they are whose paying for it.”

“The best thing as a band is touring and that’s nothing to do with critics. It’s nice to have a good review but it doesn’t really affect us,” Ryan confirms.

Before I leave the boys to have a few pints and ‘rub each other down’ before the gig starts, I take the opportunity to ask the lads’ advice for new bands starting out. With a decade’s worth experience touring, gigging and creating music, Ryan replies straight away; “Gig as much as possible.”

Jimmi, who also spends a lot of time in the studio with new and up and coming bands agrees. “It makes you a better band. Start Networking. See what the crowd respond to and work on that”.

“Oh and don’t act like Liam Gallagher,” Ryan chirps. “Only act like a big time b*stard when you are one! And don’t be naive and believe all the bulls**t either!”

Leaving the interview, the only thing I can say I enjoyed more than chatting to these genuinely awesome lads was watching them perform an hour or so later. Matt Bowman completes an awesome show in Cardiff by inviting the crowd to flood the stage during the encore (despite the bouncer’s efforts to prevent this happening) and everyone crashes around the stage in true Pigeon Detectives style!