NEWS: Plan B To Release Special Edition Album

Without a doubt the hottest act New Zealand is set to witness at the 2011 Big Day Out, Plan B will release a spectacular new edition of his #1 UK album The Defamation of Strickland Banks on December 13 which features six new tracks including the original demo version of Prayin’, live Café De Paris recordings of She Said and Welcome To Hell, and a Stay Too Long Pendulum Remix.

Plan B AKA 26 year old Londoner Ben Drew debuted at number one in the UK charts this year with the critically acclaimed The Defamation of Strickland Banks, selling 50,000 copies over the counter within the first week of release.  Now double platinum, the album is the highest selling in the UK this year, with Plan B also winning 7 of the 24 major award nominations he received in 2010. Nominations include Best New Act and Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards where he performed hit She Said, Best Male Artist, Best Breakthrough Artist and Best Album at the Q Awards, as well as Best Album at the UK Urban Music Awards.

Plan B is no ordinary MC - he’s the recalcitrant renaissance man of British music: rapper, actor, guitarist, storyteller, filmmaker and now chart-topping soul singer.   After shocking the nation with his 2006 hip hop debut Who Needs Action When You Got Words, Plan B took a different route with The Defamation of Strickland Banks, a surprising, slick album filled with “stonking tunes” (NME) that trace the rise and fall of a smartly-suited soul singer. “A sharp turn that is executed masterfully,” said Rave magazine.

Produced by Paul Epworth, the studio genius behind recent hits by Florence & the Machine, The Big Pink and Friendly Fires, The Defamation of Strickland Banks is a ferocious collision of retro soul, funk, rock and rap.

The album tells the fictitious tale of Strickland Banks - a British soul singer who finds fame, but loses everything when he ends up in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Currently five award-winning video clips from the album have been completed and when played back-to-back, form a short film showing the story of Strickland Banks’ rise to stardom and subsequent fall from grace.  To see Plan B’s videos in order visit: www.youtube.com/user/planbuk

Having just completed a sold-out UK and European tour, Plan B has also found the time to write and direct his first feature film this year, Ill Manors which is due to be completed in early 2011.

Plan B is playing at the Big Day Out Friday 21 January 2011 at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland. Tickets available from Real Groovy, all Ticketmaster Outlets, phone and credit card bookings 0800 111 999 or www.ticketmaster.co.nz, and from our website www.bigdayout.com

www.time4planb.co.uk

www.bigdayout.com

Plan B - The Defamation Of Strickland Banks Deluxe Edition - Out 13 December.