Dr Blogs - Raves And Roller Discos w/ Radioactive Man

Keith Tenniswood, known to most as Radioactive Man, has been building a life around music since his teens. Playing in bands, driving vans through the night to free parties and working closely with Andrew Weatherall are few snippets from his colourful life. We got a good dose of stories when we visited him last summer for a semi-pro round of crazy golf, a dip in the sea and some reggae and tea at his home in Hastings, UK.

Keith's story begins at a similar time as dance music did in the UK. He is respected as one of the most influential artists in the Electro music soundscape - pioneering live shows, releasing music through his label Asking For Trouble and last year, releasing his sixth solo album, Jam Out The Kicks. All of these achievements have come from grafting and honing his craft alongside some of the best to do it.

The dance scene is built on small communities of friends creating things bigger than their individual parts. If you weren't there when those things happened it can be hard to know where movements began and how genres grew. Word of mouth is the only way to find out what really went down. Fortunately enough, Keith has seen his share and was happy to take us along for the ride.

Interview by Felix

Photography by Sandy

When did you start making music?

Keith: It’s been 30 years of doing it now. 25 years of doing it on my own.

You go through phases. You learn different techniques and ways to do things.

You've seen the studio, I still use quite old stuff. I'm not obsessed with the latest kit. I just wanna use stuff that I know my way around and I’ve got my workflow with. Like with the live shows now, I can literally do it with the lights out.

There’s a lot to be said for that, for being able to be in the flow with it. Not thinking too much about the process but more about the music. I think we can get a bit obsessed with the process. That’s great, but sometimes you just wanna hear something simple.

Sandy: Yeah it’s the simple ones that really speak to my soul.

Keith: A beat and a bassline! If you can make it work with the least arrangements, then you’re winning. 

How did you begin making music on your own?

Keith: I was always making tunes on my own and doing bits with friends. I’d built up a few ideas and tracks. Andrew [Weatherall] was away quite a lot cause he’d be DJing so I’d just be in the studio on my own. I was obsessed with Drum n' Bass and Jungle at the time.

I liked to play jungle at the wrong speed around then, so I started getting into the 130ish (bpm) area of chopping up breaks, then adding Electro to that. That was around 1999 when I released my first Radioactive Man thing. Andrew had sort of nurtured me and was really supportive of me. He helped me compile my album, suggesting what stuff worked well together and that sort of thing.

Were you helping out at the Sabres Of Paradise studio when you first met Andrew Weatherall?

Yeah so the Sabres Of Paradise studio, it was called Sabresonic.

Were you doing audio engineering stuff there when you started working at the studio?

Keith: I started off making tea, skinning up, going to the shops... proper old school way of working in the studio.

I used to go out and see Andrew play at a place called The Drumclub on a Thursday night. My mate took me. I’d started listening to his radio show.

I was really into the downbeat music he used to play and reggae and stuff like that. My friend Jason suggested we go see him. That was 1993/94, then I became a regular. I got to know Jagz who was one third of the Sabres. Then there was this club event on Sunday called Full Circle where a you could see the likes of Carl Cox, Weatherall, Darren Emerson, Richie Hawtin Terry Farley, all in a pub on the outskirts of West London.

How did that grow into working with Andrew?

So one time Jagz Kooner who was 1/3 of the Sabres, they had another band called The Aloof. They were doing something with that band. Gary said you're in with Andrew tomorrow, doing this remix for Transglobal Underground. I was shitting myself. Thrown in the deep end.

I didn’t really know how to use samplers and I thought fuck, I'm gonna fall apart here. Then I was using them wrong and Andrew was like: “No, it’s fucking great, leave it.”

 

He was like that. He was just easy. He said “Right, let’s make something with that.” Then we came up with this remix for them. It was just a real nice time. Real nice people to work with.

 

It’s a good way to work. I miss that sometimes. I still do it here and there. These days it’s easy to just polish and polish and you can lose the vibe you first created. 

Sandy: Sometimes the beauty is in the imperfections.

Did you meet Craig [Richards] a long time after Andrew?

I didn’t get to know him until way after Fabric opened. Probably about 5 years after it opened. He became a huge inspiration. His music taste, the fact he’s been there for 25 years. The man is just incredible. The fact he goes and goes.

Sandy: Everything he says feels like a lovely pearl.

Keith: Yeah he has a very eloquent way of speaking.

There’s a free spiritedness to both Andrew Weatherall and Craig Richards, has that always been the case for you too?

Keith: Before I’d met Andrew or Craig, I was going to a lot of free parties and stuff. 1991 was when I got into all of that.

Sandy: Where was that?

Keith: Surrey, near where I grew up. There was a little scene going on there. Then it got bigger, and there were festivals going on, Spiral Tribe parties or whatever.. Eventually it was every weekend.

Andrew would laugh cause I’d come in on a Monday having been at a free party all weekend and tell him all the chaos that had been going on. He’d just laugh. It was like having an older brother, but one who was really supportive. Then we’d integrate what I was doing into our music as well. 

Sandy: You must have seen so many new sounds come in. There hasn’t been anything like that in a while.

Keith: Yeah the 90s explored so much in terms of style, tempo. Of course, Acid House and stuff like that came before, but then all these styles and tempos came up, people like Aphex and Squarepusher going fast and crazy, then Gabba. All this happened in that short time in the 90s then it didn't have anywhere to go.

Keith: The second wave of that (Electro) started in the late 80s and early 90s, and then we spawned our own version of that which became Hardcore and Rave. Then things started getting really interesting (laughs). 

How was warming up for Kraftwerk in 1997?

Keith: Yeah, we played before them for 6 hours, there was no one in between. That was quite something. To be asked to do that…

We’d made loads of stuff on tape. On 8 track tape. Andrew was doing live jams on tape. He had a mic which was going through a pitch shifter and he was doing speed and we couldn’t get him off the mic (laughs).

You might be known for making a certain genre, but what genres outside of your sound are you really fond of?

Keith: Reggae music. That was probably the first along with the electro stuff.

I remember we used to listen to Mannaseh on Kiss FM like 2am on a Saturday night, you’d have Cold Cut and then it would go into Mannaseh for 2-3 hours and that was a real education for me.

The stripped-backness of it and the fact there would be a vocal and non-vocal version as well. It was amazing.

What were some of your first memories of music?

Keith: Beatles probably. I also remember my mum dancing around to The Model by Kraftwerk, cause she used to do modelling as well.

What instrument would you love to be able to play better?

Keith: Keyboard.

Can you think of a moment in the last year or two that has got you really excited?

Keith: The last houghton, year before this (2024). Everyone had come to the warehouse for my set and it was one in, one out. I remember looking up and thinking wow, this is really incredible.

Definitely a standout. I look forward to that every year.

Do you find it hard not to compare yourself to others?

Keith: It’s funny sometimes you compare yourself to people and think, I’m not anywhere near as prolific as that person. There’s always someone that’s better or that might out do you.

Sandy: I think with those people it’s good to use them to spur you on. There’s always gonna be someone else. That person you’re idolising is looking up to the next person. People looking up to you right now probably couldn’t imagine that you’d be doing the same to someone else.

Keith: Yeah you shouldn't get bogged down in it. You can’t just switch it on either. The magic happens when it happens. You want to make it better than the last one if you can, but don’t kill yourself over it if it’s not because it will always connect with someone somewhere.