Life would have been very different for Richard Boucher had he continued with his recorder lessons at school.

As it is, he ditched the woodwind instrument, aged 13, for the bass guitar and is now part of world-famous Welsh punk band Funeral for a Friend.

“I ended up becoming a bassist to get out of recorder lessons,“ remembers Rich who lives in the picturesque south Wales town, Penarth.

“I hated recorder lessons. I decided to learn bass and the rest is history.“

The father-of-two grew up in Bridgend during the early 2000s – a boom time for hardcore rock and punk bands in the area – and says he quickly became immersed in the scene.

“There were bands playing all the time.

“There were a lot of jam nights and rock nights. People came to them and believed in the scene and supported it. I’ve been in and out of different bands. I played a lot with Jeff Killed John, who are now called Bullet for My Valentine.

"It was an absolutely amazing time. Without that I wouldn’t be the musician I am today.“

Rich joined the morbidly-titled outfit in 2010 following the departure of guitarist Darran Smith, and had previously played with post-hardcore and metal bands Hondo Maclean, Hurricane Joe and Ghostlines.

The five-piece, named after a song by American band Planes Mistaken for Stars, released their seventh album, Chapter and Verse, in January.

They shot to fame with the release of their 2003 record Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation, and are back on tour around the UK this spring.

Balancing the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle with being dad to a two-year-old and a six-year-old is never easy, explains Rich, who says the worst part about being on tour is leaving his wife and children.

“My youngest is two so she’s like: ’Where’s dad?’ We use Facetime, that works quite well, but being two her attention span isn’t very good so she’s like: ’Hi’ and then she’s gone.“

And spending every minute of every day on the road with band mates vocalist Matthew Davies-Kreye, guitarist Kris Coombs-Roberts, drummer Pat Lundy and guitarist Gavin Burrough, means he enjoys his time at home even more.

The bassist explains: “Because we’re on tour so much and in each other’s pockets so much, when we’re home we tend not to see each other. Obviously we spend every waking hour with five guys, so once we’re home the last thing we want is to see each other.

“But yeah, we’re all really good friends. It’s nice to be in a band with your friends. As time goes on you get really comfortable with who you are and each other.

"There’s no egos in the band, nobody thinks they’re better than each other.“

It is this dynamic which spurs the band on to create music together as a team, producing their latest record in just over a month.

“The previous year we went touring and played like 200 gigs,“ says Rich, who enjoys spending time power-lifting in the gym.

“We came off touring and thought we have no time at all to write the record. We kind of got it together, found a rehearsal space and then went to the studio. A lot of what you hear is ad-libbed and jammed. Another thing we wanted to achieve with the record is to show people what a real record sounds like.

“We tend to finish each other’s songs which is quite crazy.“

And when he’s not busy touring, making new music or fulfilling his duties as a dad, Rich teaches aspiring musicians how to play the bass.

“I get a lot of enjoyment out of teaching,“ says the former Cardiff resident.

“I wish I could have afforded to have a good teacher. I could have condensed everything I’ve learned into five years, but it has taken me 18.“

It is time well spent however and Rich adds: “I love playing my instrument. It’s amazing. I’m very lucky.“

The Forum, University of Hertfordhisre, College Lane, Hatfield, Saturday, March 21, 7pm. 01707 285000, forumhertfordshire.co.uk