Sam Teskey reached out to us recently, and after a meeting of minds on the Row one afternoon, we provided the masters of Aussie soul with a suite of tour luggage ahead of their 2024 European campaign to promote their third album Winding Way. We visited the brothers, Sam and Josh, backstage at the Eventim Apollo, formerly the Hammersmith Apollo, to see how the pieces were fairing up. Turns out, Sam is just as handy with a leather chisel as he is with a Fender Stratocaster.

Imagine Otis Redding and The Allman Brothers sharing a stage, wearing Blundstone boots. That’s the best I can do to describe the rare spirit of a Teskey Brothers’ gig. Theirs is a sound routed firmly in the past that makes Hammersmith hang on every one of Josh’s soulfully delivered lyrics and marvel at Sam’s guitar playing as it soars above them. We talk about products fit for the road and the pursuit of good adventure; there can surely be no greater champion of both than a touring Teskey Brother.

The Eventim Apollo is one of London’s most iconic venues, and close to my heart as a West Londoner. What is it like to play?
It’s great! We played here last year too and love it so much that we decided to make a live recording of it. The room just has a special vibe about it.


I wouldn’t automatically associate your sound with Australia, where does it come from?
We grew up with parents from England and listened to a lot of stuff from around the world. There weren’t many Australian records in their collection, so we found ourselves listening to Percy Sledge, Bob Dylan and Bill Withers to name a few. I guess a lot of American and English artists just got pumped into our mainstream in Australia and we couldn’t get away from it.

You tour for long stretches, almost all of last year. What do you enjoy about life on the road, and living out of a bag?
Yeah we’ve pretty much been on the road for two years after releasing our third album. I have definitely learned to love travel. If done right it can really simplify your lifestyle and leave room for creativity and freedom. We’ve tried to take the tour long and slow in order to really soak up more of our surroundings, rather than be everywhere in a hurry but see nothing!

You and your brother have an infectious energy about you. What keeps you motivated?
I guess the fact that more and more people keep coming to our shows… it gets us really excited to just keep making music knowing that there’s an audience for it. When you love what you do motivation is easy.

Which Bennett Winch products are you using most on tour, and how are you finding them?
Well, when on the road there aren’t many things that keep you steady so it’s simple things like travel ergonomics that become really important. “Creating familiar spaces in complete different places”. I spend a lot of time on the road designing travel accessories to suit my needs. It’s a fine balance between simplicity and practicality, and not easy to do well – so it’s great when the thought has been done for you. The Suit Carrier Holdall caught my eye first, then the backpack, the cargo range, even the watch roll (although quite decadent on the road) is another one of those things that anchor you to a sense of steadiness that makes a home on the road.

How did you come to start making your own leather products on the road and from where do you source your leathers?
I began at the start of this two-year-long tour really. Josh used to do a bit of leather work on the road, so he is my go-to person for tips and tricks. His help made it easy to get started. The hardest thing was to find supplies on the road, but it’s a fun adventure to find places in each city that sell tools and leather. I found a few good places in London, J. T. Batchelor is a gold mine, and in Germany I found a few good places too. America is a bit easier as every city has a Tandy Leather, and they are all about leather over there.


Tell us about the modifications you made to your guitar flight case?
When you have to travel and fly with a guitar you already have to go to oversize baggage. I figured why not make more use of all the unused space in a guitar case, so mine has turned into a wardrobe where I can hang all my gig shirts, pants and boots and any other bits and pieces I need backstage: kids’ ear muffs, headphones, a Fender headphone amp to plug into my guitar, notebooks, neck ties etc... and, of course, a guitar!