Pet Shop Boys Brit check

The Pet Shop Boys have revealed Brit organisers checked they would attend the ceremony before awarding them the Outstanding Achievement gong.

The band are attending the 2009 Brit Awards this month and will perform what they described as 'a very long medley spectacular multimedia performance with two guest stars'.

But they revealed their record company had to check they were actually on board for turning up first.

Neil Tennant told Absolute Radio's Geoff Lloyd: "I never thought we would get this. The record company phoned us up and asked if we would turn up if we won it because they know we're funny about award ceremonies. We said yes of course we would and I think they gave it to us this year because it's 25 years since our first single came out. I think it's also really nice that they're giving it to a pop act because it normally goes to rock music so it makes a change."

The Pet Shop Boys are releasing their new album Yes in March which Neil describes as "the best album we've ever done".

But Neil also revealed the band are working on a possible collaboration with Dame Shirley Bassey.

He said: "I hope this isn't top secret but Miss Bassey is actually making an album at the moment with a very good producer who actually phoned us up to see if we had any songs for her... (but) we haven't had a response yet."