Ok, who is going to go back down stairs to pick up that pound I dropped?

We talk to The Chemists' Wayne Jones about the other Kevin Bacon, under age darts and Howard Marks' poems...

When you think of the west country images of cider, tractors, and er, cider probably pop into your mind. Such a generalisation is perhaps a little unfair. Ok, nobody is denying they love their cider - or tractors - down there but in recent times the west country has become a happening place. Bristol, especially, has produced some great bands like Massive Attack, Portishead and Slade. Or was that Birmingham? Anyway, The Chemists are the latest band to emerge from Bristol and bass player Wayne Jones found time to talk to his (potentially in the future) favourite website.

Hi Wayne, so the debut album is out, happy with - to use a Simon Cowell type of expression - the final product?

Indeed we are but it seems like a long old slog to get to this point, it took about a year and a half in total. To actually record the album but that was spread over a few years. But it's worth all the hard work when somebody finally puts that CD in your hand.

CD? Cool, that's old school. Who needs these bloody MP3 downloadable audio things. If we had our way, we would still be listening to tapes we recorded from The Top 40  on our Ghetto Blaster. We notice that you had Foo Fighters and Muse producer Adrian Bushby working on your album. How did that come about?

We were hanging around in a studio in London and he happened to be there doing some other stuff. But he heard some of our older tracks and was really into the music and agreed to produce a few more for the album. So it was great to get him on board, the guy has just won a Grammy. But he was really a great guy and we all got on with him.

We couldn't help notice that you had someone called Kevin Bacon working on the album too. That wasn't thee Kevin Bacon was it? He wasn't in the studio giving it a bit of Footloose was he?

No, it was a different Kevin Bacon who was working on it with us. But that would have been a bit mad if the actor Kevin Bacon had turned up.

Well, there is that game that everyone is only separated by seven degrees from Kevin Bacon but that would have probably been a bit weird if he had not bothered with about five of those degrees and just rocked up to the studio. So, will you guys be out soon touring the album?

We are heading out on a European tour with Skunk Anansie. I think we are doing something like nine countries. We are really looking forward to it but it probably won't be as glamourous as it sounds, we will probably spend most of that time in the back of a van.

You better lay off the onion baggies then. Moving swiftly on to football, I heard you are a big Bristol Rovers fan. Forgive me, I am not really up to speed in inter-Bristol rivalry but how does one end up supporting either of the Bristol teams. Is it purely geographical or do new-borns just get allocated a team?

I am a Bristol Rovers fan, for my sins. But the team you support is purely to do with location. If you are from the north side of Bristol you are a Rovers fan, if you are from the south you are a City fan. But the rivalry is pretty intense, it can get a bit tasty down here when the teams come up against each other. Although, it doesn't happen as often as it used to, we are usually in different divisions.

Celtic v Rangers, Barcelona V Real Madrid, Boca Juniors v River Plate..we can now officially add Bristol Rovers v City to that list. Do you get to many of the games?

Not as much as I used to be able to. Being in a band is great but one of the downsides of the touring and stuff like that is you don't get to go to games as much as you would like to.

Indeed Wayne. In saying that, given Rovers recent history maybe it is a blessing in disguise. I see that one of your tracks is being used as the theme tune for Sky's rugby union coverage. Happy about that, are you also a fan of the egg-chasing?

Most people in the west country love rugby and I am still a big rugby fan. I don't play it any more, you just get way too many injuries but I still watch it a lot.

Do you play any sports?

I do enjoy a game of golf. On tour we have played some really good courses. My handicap used to be pretty decent but I have let it go a bit recently. But the game I love playing is darts, nobody in the band can touch me at darts. I am like Wayne 'The Power' Jones. There is actually a pro darts player called Wayne Jones but he is no relation.

Take you time and listen to Tony! So you are a darts man. How long have you been throwing arrows?

I have played for years. I used to play in a pub league when I was only 14 and the team used to have to sneak me into the pub. They used to pretend my name was Simon but when I played well they would get a bit excited and shout 'Go on Wayne!' and the other team were like 'Who the hell is Wayne?' Great days.

You should have got yourself on Bullseye. You too could have been a 'Lawn-Ranger' and won a super Flymo. We noticed too that you have got top-stoner Howard Marks appearing in your video. How did that come about? We though that guy basically spends his days on the couch eating pickled onion Monster Munch and watching Loose Women.

One night our record company put on a night for the bands on the label and he came along and DJ'd it and, again, he just seemed to be into our stuff. He came up to us and just basically said that he would like to help us out anyway he could.

Help you out you say? Like 'help you out with any Mary Jane?'

No, not in that way,  just in a general sense. So we thought, ok, cool, we will get you in our video.

 Hanging out with Mr Marks, nice action. Altough, that guy looks like he has been getting high on his on supply for about 60 years.

Ha Ha, I think he par-took in the occasional smoke. But he is really cool guy and i think he is going to come on tour with us, and do a bit of poetry. It should be a laugh if nothing else.

Catch The Chemists on tour: 3rd Nov Coliseum Lisbon, 4th Nov Coliseum Porto, 5th November Rivera Madrid, 8th/9th Nov Paradiso Amsterdam (sold out), 12 Nov Columbia Halle Berlin, 14 Nov Ton Halle Munich, 15 Nov Palasharp Milan, 16 Nov Saschalle Florence, 17th Nov Gasometer Vienna, 19 Nov Xtra Zurich, 20th Nov Elysee Paris, 21 Nov Leeds Academy, 22 Nov Glasgow Academy, 24th Nov Manchester Academy, 25th Nov Civic Wolverhampton, 26th Nov Brixton Academy