Hana Pestle sells out Venture

Hana Pestle, a Billings singer/songwriter who relocated to Los Angeles to launch her music career, returned home to perform to a sold-out audience at the Venture Theatre.

Hana Pestle can make finding a dead girl in a lake sound delightful.

Her original songs—themed around dark, imaginative worlds where lake swimmers entangle their fingers in the hair of the deceased or guests at the “Red Death Ball” perish—are disturbing on paper, but enchanting in song.

Even Pestle’s renditions of other’s music, including Frou Frou’s “Let Go,” Radiohead’s “Creep” and “Zombie” by the Cranberries, take on their own life, her vocal passion bringing conviction to each song.

During a sold-out performance at Billings Venture Theatre, Pestle expressed her gratitude for the hometown support. The quiet theater suited Pestle’s style: rich acoustic guitar and dramatic vocals honed in coffee houses and on the road.

During the hour and a half performance, she played several songs from her upcoming album, including “Need,” which is in the running to be included on the soundtrack for the next Twilight movie, and called her younger sister, Skyler, to the stage for a handful of duets.

Hana Pestle performs a duet with her sister, Sklyer, at Venture Theatre Aug. 14, 2009.
Hana Pestle performs a duet with her sister, Sklyer, at Venture Theatre Aug. 14.

The Billings singer/songwriter relocated to Los Angeles to launch her music career a few years ago and has created a national following by relentlessly touring the country and opening concerts for Blues Traveler, Live, and Collective Soul, among others.

Lately, Pestle has been booking concerts in support for her debut full-length album “This Way,” to be released Sept. 22 on producer Ben Moody’s label, FNR Records.

Pestle heads to Bozeman tonight to perform at the Leaf and Bean and performs in Great Falls Aug. 21 at Bert and Ernies. She’s hitting the road this fall with Moody’s new band We Are The Fallen, and has also booked a series of concert dates at college campuses in the Midwest.

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