Keith Tenniswood began his musical career, aged nine, when his father thrust a guitar in his hand. Destiny also took charge when he met up with Andrew Weatherall and The Sabres Of Paradise at night-clubs like 'The Drum Club', 'Full Circle' and 'Sabresonic' and began working with Weatherall manipulating sound on the Sabres tour.

Having been an integral part in the Weatherall studio set up since, it seemed a natural step that upon the demise of Sabres, Weatherall and Tenniswood should arise from the debris and form their own production team, the Two Lone Swordsmen. In 1996 they released their first album together as the Swordsmen, entitled 'The Fifth Mission-Return ToThe Flightpath Estate' on Weatherall’s own Emissions imprint. In recent years, however he's stepped out of his partners shadow to much acclaim djing and producing as 'Radioactive Man'. In his own words: "It all started when I used to eat uranium for breakfast". Read on to find out how uranium can turn you into one of the world's most respected artists.

Describe yourself in a sentence...
Old enough to know better.

To what extent do you think a DJ/ Producers surroundings contribute to shaping their sound?
Well, we've got a basement studio with no windows, which may go some way to explain the dirty dark beats that eminate from here! I think a lot .

What prompted your decision to release material on your own rather than under the 2 Lone Swordsmen guise?
Because Andrew was away every weekend djing, I found myself with spare time to do my own thing.

The Radioactive Man spirit is almost one of 'anything goes' musically. With this in mind, which artists and/or records have made a hefty impression on your over the years?
There's so many, but I would say from kraftwerk, hashim, bambaata, all things detroit, dynamix 2,kool keith, public enemy, luke vibert, advent, aphex, squarepusher etc to primal scream, pj harvey,the white stripes, johnny cash, the stones, james brown, sly stone, howlin wolf, lee perry, king tubby, marley, sly +Robbie, sex pistols, motorhead, nirvana, and back to venetian snares to name a few.... lovin the whitey album at the moment!

What different things have you gained creatively working as Radioactive Man versus 2 Lone Swordsmen?
I don't think of it in a versus way really. Music is one long learning process.

What pisses you off on a daily basis?
Objects + people.

You're renowned for your life show as Radioactive Man as much as your DJ'ing. What kind of preparation goes into each individual show or tour?
I've been building up my catalogue of trax I can do live over the years, so now I have maybe 20-30 trax I can do. Just keep it slightly different each time, if only to stop me gettin bored of doing the same set and I try to write new beats each time I've got a live set.

Tell us something we should know about you? Something others might not necessarily know.
I've got a small Jack Russell called 'Morton' who I found on the way back from castlemorton rave in '92.

Radioactive Man... he's a cartoon figure right? Is this where you name stems from or is there another story behind it?
It all started when I used to eat uranium for breakfast...

Do you have any recurring dreams, and do they to any extent inspire you musically?
Keep having one about my teeth falling out, and someone said that meant I'm comin in to loads of money. I'm still waiting ... gonna do a track called 'extraction' !

Your Radioactive Man guise musically has been described as 'Teknoelectrobreaks'. Would you agree with this as a good description? If not, how would you put it into words?
Thats far too obvious.. twistyboomklart just about covers it I would say.

How hard do you think it's been for you to gain your own sense of self outside of the 2Lone Swordsmen partnership with Andrew Weatherall?
Initially it was always 'Weatherall's partner' but I think I managed to break from that tag..

Running one's own label seems to be the way forward for many artists today. What drove you to set up Control Tower with Simon 'The Dexorcist' Brown?
Simon is one of me best mates that goes way back, and we wanted to set up a label that put out 150bpm electro, 'cos no-one else was doing it at the time.

What production and touring work can we expect from Radioactive Man in the near future?
Am puttin finishing touches to my 'difficult' 3rd album, and playing anywhere they'll have me! Doing lots of Swordsmen dates with full band; Glastonbury, Roskilde, Isle of Wight, T in the Park, Oxygen (dublin) and of course haywire on the 1st of may in Jax, crucifix lane. Also putting out a radioactive 12" on control tower soon...