Ten years ago Canadians Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva launched their label, Plus 8, introducing to the world artists like Kenny Larkin and Speedy J. Now the two have decided to close Plus 8’s first phase with a new compilation project, Plus 8 Classics, which Acquaviva describes as “a sonic picture book of when we were all beginning.”

Hawtin and Acquaviva became acquainted towards the end of the 80s at The Shelter club in Detroit and shared their common interest in electronic music.

As with Underground Resistance, the Plus 8 story began in a basement – in this case the space where John’s Italian father cultivated fresh mozzarella cheese. The pair’s initial plan was to record a Derrick May megamix for DMC, but instead they came up with Plus 8’s first issue, State Of Mind’s ‘Elements Of Tone’, which set a precedent for Warp-style bleep techno. They went on to line up records by Cybersonik (comprised of the Plus 8 founders and Dan Bell), Detroit’s Kenny Larkin, Speedy J (aka Joachem Paap), The Kooky Scientist (ex-Psychic TV member Fred Gianelli) and Theorem (Dale Lawrence).

When Hawtin and John Acquaviva conceived Plus 8 as an underground techno concern, they were apprehensive that the music was over. It was the end of the 80s, and an era in music, and both noticed that fewer records were coming out and that many of the older DJs were exhausted – among them Acquaviva, who had spun for 10 years and felt “burned out.” However, Acquaviva was inspired by the younger Hawtin’s freshness and enthusiasm.

Hawtin and Acquaviva chose to just follow their instincts. Both accepted that Plus 8 was a risky proposition from a business angle but, John says, “We did it with our hearts, not with our business minds.” As Plus 8 expanded the two Canadians applied their business acumen to make it work and better serve their roster of artists. “You’ve got to balance your love and spontaneity somehow with organisation and the professionalism, so it’s a tough call but we’ve walked that razor’s edge for the last 10 years.” In actuality the two were among those spearheading the Second Wave of techno.

What neither Hawtin or Acquaviva foresaw was the backlash to Plus 8 from the mostly African-American Detroit techno community nearby – a response to their outsider status and race and the fact that Plus 8’s third record, Cybersonik’s ‘Technarchy’, bore the words “The Future Sound Of Detroit.” Some took that as a diss. In retrospect, Acquaviva reckons that it was the younger generation “who shut their mouths up,” not Detroit techno’s original triumvirate of Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. “There was always a mutual respect,” says Acquaviva. “I thought the first generation of Detroit guys were very friendly to anyone and everyone. I think they had their success, they were very friendly. But as much as on the one hand we wanted to work with them, on the other we also wanted to do our own thing.”

Acquaviva believes that the Plus 8 posse benefitted by not responding to the criticisms and sticking to their principles and, as a result, won the respect of even Underground Resistance’s “Mad” Mike Banks. “We never get like some people in the press. There’s always more positive than bad, so why reply to one bad comment? So we just looked beyond it and, if anything, it hurt a bit sometimes when you heard people saying, ‘You’re not from Detroit’ or ‘You’re a bunch of white guys’ or whatever. It’s all the same really. Kraftwerk influenced Black people and Black people influenced white people and it’s a big circle. Whatever criticisms – whether they were racial or whether they were geographic – at the end of the day they were just little bits of junk coming out, most of it was always positive, but the thought of it was distressing. Instead of us being regional people, we really looked to the world because our music was a worldly thing and we wanted our records to go out anywhere in the world.”

And Plus 8 did receive demos from artists as far afield as Japan and Europe – as a result they brought out some of the first material from Japan’s Ken Ishii and Holland’s Speedy J. And so Plus 8 evolved into “one of the first international orientated techno labels.” Today Acquaviva discerns a commonality to all Plus 8 releases. “We had a good one the other day -,” he says, ”’predictably unpredictable.’”

Plus 8 was suspended in 1997, giving Hawtin and Acquaviva a chance to renegotiate the label’s many commitments to its artists and rethink its direction. Last year they felt it was time to commence a new cycle.

Of the two partners, Hawtin commands the greater presence in the electronic music scene than Acquaviva. Richie has had his moments of near pop stardom as Plastikman, whereas John avoids photo shoots and the press and is very much a family man. “Personally, just as an individual, I’m not into the fame aspect. I always wanted to get respect. I think Rich and I both wanted to get respect, and sometimes fame or public acceptance comes along with that, but that’s neither of our motivations, so it’s nice when people want to talk to you or invite you places – the desire is never for more profile.”

Indeed, Acquaviva jokes that, “I’m pretty busy for a nobody” – a fact borne out by his solid calendar of DJ bookings. As a DJ Acquaviva also identifies less with the minimal techno pioneered by Hawtin and others, preferring “the lighter side” – disco and house. When John started DJing in 1980 he championed what he terms “electro-pop”. “I thought in 1980 we had techno – there were acts like New Order, Depeche Mode, Ultravox, Gary Numan and Kraftwerk – that was the kind of music I played and, to me, that was electronic music and it never caught on like techno did, but I think the technology was not as affordable. Ten years later when technology became affordable the revolution that I thought I was taking a part in back in 1980 finally happened and I’m glad I didn’t give up.”

1990 – 1997 Plus 8 Classics is out through Festival Mushroom.