Hana Pestle is the latest singer/songwriter to break out of the state of Montana. Starting at an early age she knew what she wanted to do, and that was to play her music in front of people out on the road. Working with writers such as Ben Moody has brought her into the spotlight and her debut album drops in the summer of 2009.

Spencer: Can you introduce yourself?
Hana:My name is Hana Pestle, I'm from Billings Montana and now I live in LA.

Spencer: What has your transition from Billings to LA been like?
Hana:It's been very smooth actually. Happily, it's been great. I haven't really been in LA, for like the last, well I've been there but I haven't lived there in like the last six months, because I've been on the road constantly. But yeah, I really like it. I love California and I love the ocean, so its been really nice.
Spencer:Thats good.
Hana:Yeah.

Spencer: So how long have you been touring for again?
Hana:I've been touring for about the last, well since the beginning of June.
Spencer: Wow.
Hana:Yeah, so it's been pretty incredible. It was my first summer of touring and I think it went really well. I've opened for a lot of different people this summer. I've opened for Corey Smith, John McLaughlin, and just some really really incredibly talented people and I'm just so thankful to be able to meet and open for.

Spencer: How old were you when you decided you wanted to be a performer?
Hana:I would say, probably about eleven. I had a solo in the Christmas concert in seventh grade and I think that same year my parents got me a guitar and pretty much since then I've just known that thats what I want to do. Performing is pretty much my calling.

Spencer: How did you get to meet Ben Moody?
Hana:I had a show about three years ago up in Montana and a friend, of a friend, of a friend, knew Michael who is a guitarist and producer and writer out in LA who was Ben's writing partner and through that chain of people he got a video of that show and they liked the video and they decided that they wanted to work with me and they called me had me fly down and I did a few demos and then it kind of all went from there.

Spencer: What has your experience working with him been like?
Hana:It has been incredible. We really work well together. It's turned out to be a dream come true. The two of us just write really well and quickly together. We finish each others sentences. It's been quite a learning experince for me because he's so talented. I mean he really taught me how to write songs. I mean everyone kind of has a different definition of writing songs. I always just sat down on my bed and wrote about what was making me angry at that time or whatever,but he really taught me a lot about song structure and how to make a song good.

Spencer: Do you have a favorite song that you have wrote with him?
Hana:Let's see, uhm, I would have to say.. a song called "The Red Death Skull" it's on an Edgar Allen Poe short story, and Ben and I wrote it together about a year and a half ago, no two years ago now. It's really just been one of my favorites, it was so much fun to write with him because we just let our imagniation just go crazy.

Spencer: So are you a fan of Edgar Allen Poe?
Hana:Yeah definitely. I'm definitely an English nerd and I love to read. And yeah, he's pretty talented. He's a talented dude.

Spencer: That's for sure. Is there any musician or band that you like really look up to?
Hana:Radiohead like all the way. I've loved their music for a long time. My dad's always been a big fan of them and I've pretty much always looked up to them. And I love their music and I love how creative they are with their music. So thats why I look up to them.

Spencer: So where do you see yourself in ten years with your music?
Hana:Well, I see myself out on the road. Playing shows, hopefully bigger shows. Maybe with a few Grammys?*laughs* But hopefully, I just wanna inspire people with my music and I just hope then that I'm still working and doing what I love and hopefully making a little bit of money doing that. Enough to be able to support myself out on the road because I love playing shows. I really feel like I'm made for touring, so I just wanna be able to do that for as long as possible.

Spencer: What's your philosophy on music?
Hana:Well music is pretty much my life. I'm a freak about music, I'm listening to it constantly. Really it's my life it makes me feel all sorts of things. It's pretty incredible to be able to create music and yeah.. I love it.

Spencer: Is there anything that you'd like to say at your fans at Musiqtone.com?
Hana:Just thank you very much for listening, and I hope that you enjoy the album coming out next summer, and just thank you.