On The Up: Rotorua musician April Nisbet releases debut solo single

Rotorua musician April Nisbet, performing as Tebsin, has released her debut solo single, Decadence. Photo / Supplied

It felt “naughty” and “wrong” for Rotorua musician April Nisbet to dream bigger.

Her upbringing was telling her to get “real job”, keeping songwriting as a “little hobby on the side”.

But Nisbet decided to pursue her creativity “with no rules or boundaries”.

For a decade, Nisbet fronted pop-punk band False Heights.

Now 34, she is excited to officially tell people she has her first single on Spotify.

Decadence was released last Friday, which she described as “sad girl pop” for those moments when you need to feel less alone.

Nisbet said she had a “very privileged” upbringing in Lynmore, “lucky” to be close to the lakes and Whakarewarewa forest.

She was “outdoorsy”, spending time camping and volunteering with Girl Guides, Jimmy Eat World playing in her headphones.

Nisbet’s yearly “highlight” growing up was the January Lakeside Concert. Rotorua didn’t get many concerts so it was “fabulous”, she said.

She began playing piano at age 6 and, at 13, moved into songwriting.

Her music had “evolved a lot” over the years, but she said she couldn’t help leaning towards “melancholy topics” and used songwriting to process her emotions.

Nisbet has faced a series of life challenges. She had a miscarriage, an ectopic pregnancy and endometriosis surgery that removed most of her right ovary.

It took a toll on her relationship with her now ex-husband and former False Heights bandmate.

She said the band taught her “a lot” and led to “some pretty cool gigs” - including Rhythm and Vines and opening the Taupō Summer Concert to more than 15,000 fans.

But they were “growing away from it”, and it “reached its conclusion” naturally.

“I just really wanted to focus on living my little girl dream,” she said.

Before going solo April Nisbet spent a decade with pop-punk band False Heights, performing at festivals and large-scale gigs. Photo / Supplied

Going solo meant she could be more vulnerable in her writing.

“In a band, you have to consider other people constantly,” she said.

Now, she could “just say it”.

Most people only realise her stage name, Tebsin, is Nisbet backwards after they ask how she came up with it - “I’m not that creative”, she said.

The name was originally tied to a business idea.

Nisbet wrote Decadence in “the heat of the emotion”, pulling it together “quick fire” over a couple of sessions.

It was about choosing to be okay with breaking down elements of her life and letting everything “fall away”.

“I have definitely experienced that over the past 12 months,” Nisbet said.

Nisbet plans to release more singles this year and is set to take the stage for her debut acoustic tour, Stripped Bare. She will play at MoveSpace in Auckland this Saturday.

She hopes her music can be there for people, the way music has always been for her.

And there is still one full-circle moment she is chasing.

Nisbet said she would love to one day perform at the Lakeside Concert.

“A little April would be so happy.”

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.