Sam Teskey
Sam Teskey (born 1989) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and recording engineer, best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the blues-soul band the Teskey Brothers, which he formed with his older brother Josh Teskey in 2008.[1][2] Born and raised in Warrandyte, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Teskey grew up in a musically inclined family and began playing guitar alongside his brother during their teenage years at a local Steiner high school, where Josh focused on vocals and Sam on guitar.[1][3] The brothers, along with bassist Brendon Love and drummer Liam Gough, developed their raw, emotive sound influenced by classic blues and soul artists, initially busking and performing locally before gaining wider recognition.[4][5] The Teskey Brothers released their debut studio album, Half Mile Harvest, in 2017, followed by the critically acclaimed Run Home Slow in 2019, which earned the band three ARIA Awards—including Best Group, Best Blues & Roots Album, and Engineer of the Year for Teskey's production work—and a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.[6][7] Their 2020 live album Live at the Forum debuted at number one on the ARIA Charts and won Best Blues & Roots Album at the 2020 ARIA Awards, while their third studio album, The Winding Way, was released in June 2023 to further international acclaim, supported by extensive global tours. In July 2025, they released the live album Live at the Hammersmith Apollo, which won Best Blues & Roots Album at the 2025 ARIA Awards; the band also received the APRA Songwriter of the Year award in 2024.[4][8][9][10][11][12] In addition to his band work, Teskey launched a solo career with the release of his debut album Cycles on Decca Records in October 2021, a genre-defying collection inspired by life's cycles that showcased his skills as a singer, guitarist, and producer.[13][14] Beyond music, Teskey is a trained carpenter and enjoys hiking in nature, balancing his touring life with family responsibilities as a father.[1]Early life and education
Childhood in Warrandyte
Sam Teskey was born in 1989 in Warrandyte, a rural suburb on the Yarra River approximately 24 kilometers northeast of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[15][16] His birth occurred at the family home in the room above what later became the band's studio space, with his older brother Josh, then a toddler, present during the event.[1] Warrandyte's semi-rural setting, characterized by rolling hills, bushland, and proximity to the Yarra River, provided a natural environment that shaped Teskey's early years in the 1990s.[16] The suburb's history as one of Melbourne's original villages, with influences from its Wurundjeri Aboriginal heritage and gold rush past, fostered an outdoor-oriented lifestyle amid green, woodsy surroundings on the city's outer rim.[17] Teskey grew up in a close-knit family; his parents, Rob and Jennie, had emigrated from Britain, bringing a sense of community and familial bonds that emphasized shared experiences.[6][18] The sibling relationship with Josh was particularly strong from infancy, marked by their shared home environment and early interactions that built a foundation of collaboration.[1] Pre-teen interests centered on non-musical pursuits, including exploring the local bushland, swimming, and boating along the Yarra River, activities reflective of Warrandyte's emphasis on nature and outdoor recreation.[19]Introduction to music and schooling
Sam Teskey attended the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School, where the holistic curriculum integrated arts into daily learning, fostering early exploration of instruments and creative expression through activities like music, painting, and performance. This environment, emphasizing the development of the whole child academically, artistically, and emotionally, provided a foundation for his musical interests during his high school years from approximately 2003 to 2007.[20][1] Around age 14 or 15, Teskey began learning guitar, developing rhythm skills inspired by blues and soul genres such as those of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. School teachers passionate about blues played a key role, teaching guitar in an old-school style and encouraging a Memphis soul approach that shaped his minimalist, soulful playing technique. Growing up in Warrandyte, his family's support for music further nurtured this early passion.[3][1][21] The Steiner school's emphasis on collaborative arts influenced Teskey's interest in group playing, evident in school performances and local opportunities like the Warrandyte Festival, where he and his brother Josh performed and backed other young artists. During high school, the brothers experimented with early songwriting, jamming together and busking blues on weekends, which honed their collaborative dynamic and laid the groundwork for future musical endeavors. These adolescent experiences bridged Teskey's personal background to his emerging professional path in music.[1][3][22]Career
Role in The Teskey Brothers
Sam Teskey co-founded The Teskey Brothers in 2008 alongside his brother Josh Teskey on vocals and rhythm guitar, Brendon Love on bass, and Liam Gough on drums, drawing from their shared passion for blues and soul music developed through years of busking in Melbourne.[5][23] As the band's lead guitarist and backing vocalist, Teskey played a pivotal role in their debut album Half Mile Harvest, released in January 2017, where he provided rhythm guitar and co-wrote several tracks with the group, contributing to its authentic blues-soul texture that propelled it to a peak of number 18 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[24][25] The album's sound, influenced by classic American soul, featured Teskey's distinctive guitar riffs, notably in the track "Pain and Misery," which helped establish the band's raw, emotive style rooted in 1960s Motown and blues traditions.[26] Teskey's contributions expanded on the 2019 follow-up Run Home Slow, where his lead guitar arrangements and engineering work enhanced the album's soulful depth, leading to its peak at number 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart and wins for Best Group, Best Blues and Roots Album, and Engineer of the Year at the 2019 ARIA Awards.[7][27] The band's first live album, Live at the Forum, recorded in Melbourne in November 2019 and released in 2020, debuted at number 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, with Teskey's live performances and co-engineering alongside Joe Carra capturing the intensity of their stage presence.[28][29] Following the 2022 departure of Love and Gough, The Teskey Brothers continued with Teskey and Josh at the core, releasing their third studio album The Winding Way in June 2023. On the album, Teskey delivered lead guitar parts and co-wrote tracks, contributing to its emotive blues-soul sound and number one debut on the ARIA Albums Chart.[30][31] The band undertook extensive international tours—including North American dates in 2023 and European shows in 2024—while sharing the 2024 APRA Songwriter of the Year award for their collaborative songwriting.[32][33][34] In July 2025, they released their second live album Live at the Hammersmith Apollo, recorded during sold-out shows in London in September 2024, highlighting Teskey's dynamic guitar work in a live setting.[10]Engineering and production work
Sam Teskey emerged as a key audio engineer during the recording sessions for The Teskey Brothers' second studio album, Run Home Slow, released in August 2019. Working primarily out of home studios in regional Victoria, he handled much of the mixing and recording, collaborating with producer Paul Butler to capture the band's performances using analog tape techniques that emphasized a raw, vintage aesthetic. Teskey's approach involved tracking to a Studer 24-track machine, drawing on his early experiments with a Tascam eight-track reel-to-reel from around 2007, which allowed for the organic bleed and warmth characteristic of the album's soulful blues sound.[35][36] For his contributions, Teskey received the ARIA Award for Engineer of the Year in October 2019, as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical in 2020, shared with Butler.[37][38] Teskey's engineering skills evolved from self-taught beginnings in home setups to professional proficiency, influenced by mentorship from engineer Nao Anzai and hands-on experience with vintage gear like Chandler preamps. This progression shaped the band's signature raw, analog-driven sound, prioritizing live room feel over digital perfection to evoke classic soul recordings. By the late 2010s, his expertise enabled efficient workflows in makeshift environments, blending intuition with technical precision to enhance the emotional depth of performances.[35] Teskey continued his production work with The Teskey Brothers on their 2020 live album Live at the Forum, where he oversaw mixing and advocated for analog capture using an MCI JH 114 tape recorder at 15 ips across 12 reels, ensuring a dynamic, unprocessed live energy suitable for vinyl release. He received additional engineering credits on the band's 2023 album The Winding Way, including tape recording for tracks like "Oceans of Emotions," where live takes preserved natural vocal huskiness and instrumental spill in collaboration with producer Eric J. Dubowsky. Outside the band, Teskey handled production duties for the 2020 collaborative album Push the Blues Away by his brother Josh Teskey and Ash Grunwald, recording entirely live to tape in the brothers' regional Victorian studio to achieve a stripped-back, gospel-infused blues vibe.[39][35][40][41][42][43]Solo career development
Amid the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, which paused activities for The Teskey Brothers, Sam Teskey began developing his solo work by revisiting and completing a collection of unfinished songs originally written during band tours. This period allowed him to explore a more personal and introspective approach to songwriting, drawing on influences from late-1960s and 1970s psychedelic rock acts like Pink Floyd and Cream, distinct from the band's blues-soul style.[44] Teskey's debut solo album, Cycles, was released on 8 October 2021 through Ivy League Records. The record, recorded live-to-tape in his home analogue studio, centers on themes of life's recurring patterns—such as daily rhythms, seasonal changes, and personal evolution—presented as a cohesive cosmic journey through meditative and narrative-driven tracks. Unlike the collaborative energy of his band work, Cycles emphasizes minimalist arrangements with lingering guitar notes, slow-building harmonies, and occasional distorted psych-rock elements, highlighting Teskey's growth as a singer-songwriter.[13][45][46] Preceding the album, Teskey released singles including "Love" in July 2021, a genre-defying opener blending orchestral balladry and ambient textures to evoke emotional renewal; "Til the River Takes Us Home," a bluegrass-inflected ballad with nostalgic, geography-tied lyrics reflecting journeys and farewells; and "Let the Sun Bring the Light," a folky track underscoring themes of hope and cyclical renewal through its guitar-centric melody. These songs showcase Teskey's shift toward introspective, story-like compositions supported by prominent, evocative guitar work rather than full-band dynamics.[13][46][47] Following the album's release, Teskey embarked on a national Australian tour in October 2021, performing in cities including Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne to promote his solo material. He continued solo explorations with live performances, such as a set at Bluesfest in Byron Bay in 2022, where he presented tracks from Cycles in an intimate, guitar-focused format. As of November 2025, Teskey has not announced additional solo releases, focusing primarily on band commitments while maintaining his independent artistic identity.[13][48]Discography
Solo studio albums
Sam Teskey released his debut solo studio album, Cycles, on October 8, 2021, through Ivy League Records in Australia and Decca Records internationally.[13][49] The album marks a significant departure from the blues-soul sound of his band, The Teskey Brothers, embracing a psychedelic-influenced exploration of life's rhythms. As the primary songwriter, performer, producer, and engineer, Teskey handled multi-instrumental duties, including guitar, vocals, and various ambient elements, creating a cohesive, looping narrative.[44][50] The recording process for Cycles took place in early 2020 during COVID-19 lockdowns at Teskey's analogue home studio in Warrandyte, Victoria, the same space used for prior Teskey Brothers sessions.[13] Emphasizing live tracking to capture organic energy, Teskey collaborated with musician friends for real-time performances, minimizing overdubs and allowing songs to flow seamlessly into one another.[13][44] This approach drew from archived demos, forming a "sonic archaeological dig" that unified disparate ideas into a single, cyclical structure.[46] Thematically, Cycles reflects the recurring patterns of existence—from birth and love to loss and renewal—mirroring a full day from sunrise to sunrise.[13][50] Love serves as a central motif, evolving through stages of intensity and return, with instrumental passages evoking emotional introspection and cosmic journeys blending folk, orchestral balladry, psych-rock, and ambient soundscapes.[13][51] The album's artwork, featuring ethereal, looping visuals, complements this sense of continuity, though specific design credits emphasize Teskey's hands-on vision.[47] Cycles comprises 7 tracks with integrated intros, outros, and parts that enhance its flowing, conceptual design. Key highlights include the opening "Love," a pastoral folk piece with layered vocals building to expressive guitar solos; "Don't Fear," which transitions from tense ambient builds to reassuring resolutions; "Let The Sun Bring The Light," capturing mid-life reflection through symphonic swells; the expansive "If The Dove Is Sold," an 11-minute psych-rock epic exploring doubt and redemption; and the closing "Then Love Returns," a meditative reprise affirming renewal.[49][50] The full tracklist is as follows:| No. | Title | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Love | 5:44 |
| 2 | Don't Fear | 5:35 |
| 3 | Let The Sun Bring The Light | 7:21 |
| 4 | Til The River Takes Us Home | 4:21 |
| 5 | If The Dove Is Sold | 11:16 |
| 6 | Our World Goes Cold | 5:30 |
| 7 | Then Love Returns | 10:57 |