Back the Whisky Flowers: From Kettering to Memphis

Aim

Help The Whisky Flowers represent the UK in Memphis and Portugal for the International and European Blues Challenges 2027.

From Kettering to the world stage: Help The Whisky Flowers represent the UK.

As winners of the 2026 UK Blues Challenge, held by the UK Blues Federation at Marshall Studios on 25 September 2026, The Whisky Flowers now have the incredible opportunity to represent the UK on two international stages - at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, in January 2027, and the European Blues Challenge in Portugal in April 2027.

We couldn’t be more excited to have been given this opportunity. To take the music we started making together in Kettering all the way to Memphis and Portugal, representing the UK along the way, genuinely means the world to us.

And we would love to go and make all of our supporters, our hometown and our country proud.

However, The Whisky Flowers are an entirely independent, self-funded band, so we’re humbly asking for your help to get us there.

Being an independent band means opportunities like this don’t come with a big travel budget behind them. We have to fund getting all four members of the band to each competition ourselves - including flights, accommodation, travel while we’re there and the not-so-small task of getting our instruments and equipment safely across countries and continents with us.

When you’re moving four people and everything needed to perform live, those costs add up quickly.

Phase 1 - Road to Memphis

Our first challenge is getting The Whisky Flowers to Memphis, Tennessee, for the International Blues Challenge in January 2027.

We estimate that the trip will cost approximately £10,000 for the four of us, including flights, accommodation, travel in Memphis and transporting our instruments and equipment.

We need to have registered for our place in the International Blues Challenge by 20 November 2026, so our first target is to raise £10,000 by mid-November, giving us enough time to secure our place and make the necessary travel arrangements.

Phase 2 - Road to Portugal

Next comes the European Blues Challenge in Portugal in April 2027.

We estimate that this trip will cost approximately £6,500, again covering the costs involved in getting all four members of the band, and everything we need to perform, there and back.

Once we have details of the registration deadline, we’ll add them here, but we’re aiming to raise the remaining £6,500 by the beginning of February 2027.

From Kettering to the world

We have been completely blown away by the incredible support we’ve received on our journey so far - not just locally, but across the UK, Ireland and Europe - and we can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve already done for us.

We formed The Whisky Flowers at our local jam session in our hometown of Kettering, and in the space of just two years, we couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved.

Kettering and our local music scene are incredibly important to us. To go from meeting and forming a band at a local jam night to being given the opportunity to represent the UK on international stages honestly feels a little bit like a scene from a movie.

So, if you’d like to help us write the next part of that story, we would be incredibly grateful.

Whether it’s £2, £20, sharing this page with someone else or simply continuing to support our music - it all helps get The Whisky Flowers one step closer to Memphis and Portugal.

We'd like to say a heartfelt thank you to our family, friends, fans, and the UK Blues Federation for all of your support.

Thank you for believing in us.

All of our love,
Steph, Aiden, Ben & Elliot
 The Whisky Flowers

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 27th December 2026 at 10:58pm