2009 has seen a brilliant start to the year for Sydney rock band STONE PARADE with their award winning song â€œSomebody will miss you” hitting radio stations and the airwaves across the country.

March sees the start of the band’s first national tour with over 60 dates already confirmed. During June and July Stone Parade will form part of a special touring initiative known as ‘Rock the Schools’ sponsored by Boost Mobile which will see the band playing to some 50,000 high school students up and down the eastern seaboard in NSW and Queensland.

Stone Parade built their substantial fan base gradually starting some 5 years ago on their home turf of Sydney ‘s Northern Beaches – an area of great musical significance since it has spawned the talents of acts such as INXS, Midnight Oil, Icehouse and Richard Clapton. Last October their debut album was independently released and their debut single, “Somebody will miss you” won Stone Parade critical acclaim here in Australia with winning first prize in Nokia’s ‘BE HEARD’ competition ahead of more than 500 other entries. In April this year STONE PARADE was announced winners of the ‘Rock’ category in the prestigious ‘International Songwriting Competition’. The band’s song â€˜Somebody Will Miss You’ was chosen out of 15,000 entries world-wide which were judged by industry luminaries such as Tom Waits, Julian Casablancas (the Strokes) & Nelly Furtado.

Somebody will miss you will be the featured theme song for forthcoming National Nine Network TV series “Missing Pieces’’ which will be hosted by Nine’s news anchorman Peter Overton. Stone Parade are supported by jobsinretail.com.au, an initiative run by Westfield to facilitate young people who want to work in the retail and fashion industry. Giles Hurst, General Manager of Retail and Business, comments “It was not a difficult decision for us to put our weight behind the band. Stone Parade have a great connection with, and understanding of, the same young people we want to attract to work in retail.”

There are plans to do a series of ‘centre-stage’ performances at Westfield Shopping Centres in 2009. “These shows will provide an excellent opportunity for people across Australia to visit their local Westfield shopping centre and see these outstanding musicians in action.