Artist

The Teskey Brothers

Melbourne, Australia • Formed 2008

The Teskey Brothers is a music group from Melbourne, Australia, active since 2008. Their discography on Gatefold includes 8 records.

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Albums tracked

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2008

Since

Biography

The Teskey Brothers is an Australian soul blues band formed in 2008. The band came to be from seeking blues and roots of the greats from an early age when exposed to musicians such as Peter Green, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. The boys would watch closely in awe as their teacher, Sam Linton Smith, performed at St. Andrews pub on a Sunday, the very same St. Andrews in which Josh and Sam Teskey set up to busk as boys. Thus began the musical convergence of Warrandyte Blues-Soul and everything in between.

The Arc of The Teskey Brothers

The pivots — what forced The Teskey Brothers to reinvent.

The Warrandyte Analog Basement
They spent nearly a decade playing local pubs before tracking Half Mile Harvest in their self-built studio in 2017. Working with a tight budget and an analog-only ethos, the band engineered the entire project themselves to capture a raw, unvarnished performance. You hear it in the drum bleed on 'Pain and Misery,' where the room acoustic dominates over any modern studio trickery. This record was a massive gamble on a dead format that paid off by establishing their signature vintage identity.
The Paul Butler Overhaul
For Run Home Slow in 2019, they brought in producer Paul Butler, the guy behind Michael Kiwanuka's best early records. Butler moved them out of their comfort zone, introducing cinematic arrangements, gospel backing vocals, and strange percussion choices. The result was a wider, heavier sound that proved they weren't just a nostalgic one-trick pony. The horn arrangements on 'Hold Me' hit with a punch that their debut lacked entirely.
The Winding Way Transition
They packed up their gear and left their home studio to record The Winding Way with producer Eric J Dubowsky in Sydney. Working with a producer known for electronic and pop acts was a massive shock to the system for a band built on tape. The production got cleaner, the strings got bigger, and the band faced the challenge of maintaining their gritty soul core under a glossy studio light. It is their most polished effort, forcing Josh's vocals to carry the heavy emotional weight.

Influences

Otis Redding — Josh Teskey has cited Otis Redding as his primary vocal inspiration. You hear this influence in the desperate, pleading vocal runs on 'Pain and Misery,' which directly mimic Redding's phrasing on 'These Arms of Mine.' It is the blueprint for their entire approach to soul music.
Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac — Sam Teskey's guitar work is heavily informed by late-60s British blues. The slow, crying guitar solo on 'I Get Up' is a direct nod to Green's work on 'Need Your Love So Bad.' It brings a moody, European blues-rock flavor to their otherwise American-influenced soul.
Sam Cooke — The band has frequently covered Cooke's 'Bring It On Home to Me' during their live sets. The sweet, swinging rhythm of 'Carry You' pulls directly from Cooke's pioneering gospel-pop formula. It balances their grittier blues impulses with pure melodic pop sensibility.
Ray Charles — The band's use of blues-based piano and call-and-response backing vocals is modeled directly after Charles's late-50s Atlantic recordings. You hear this in the piano-driven swing of 'Man of Your Word.' It provides the swing that keeps their rhythm section from sounding too stiff.
Wilson Pickett — The horn arrangements on Run Home Slow mimic the aggressive, punching style of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section that backed Pickett. The sharp brass hits on 'So Sad' are a direct tribute to that classic Southern soul sound. It is the fuel that drives their uptempo tracks.