Terry Crews, with Ashes & Arrows' Ben Voigt, Ciaran McMeeken and Jonathan Calhoun, who have made it to the semifinals of America’s Got Talent. Photo / @ashesandarrowsofficial
Terry Crews, with Ashes & Arrows' Ben Voigt, Ciaran McMeeken and Jonathan Calhoun, who have made it to the semifinals of America’s Got Talent. Photo / @ashesandarrowsofficial
Arrowtown’s McMeeken, 32, and bandmates from Asheville, North Carolina, Benjamin Voigt and Jonathan Calhoun are captivating the show’s judges Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum and millions of US viewers alike with their harmonies.
The band, which made it through audition rounds with their original song Born to Love, wowed the judges on the quarterfinal stage last week with another original piece, Wild Horses.
McMeeken tells Spy that being on the hit US show over the last few months has seen him grow a lot as a person, but he is enjoying the experience.
“It’s a little weird sometimes, I won’t lie, but all and all, really great,” says McMeeken.
Although his bandmates were excited to go on the show, McMeeken says that originally he was a bit hesitant.
“After talking to friends in the industry I came to the conclusion that this is just a great opportunity to get the music out there.
“I think my original resistance to doing the show was because it’s a really scary thing to do. It’s a big opportunity and there’s a lot of eyeballs watching.
McMeeken spent his high school years in different bands and music groups, but says it never felt like a possibility to pursue it as a career.
After a jaunt across the Tasman and working on a farm, he ended up living in Dunedin working in a café whilst writing and playing his own music and playing at small venues.
Ciaran McMeeken moved to the US in 2019. Photo / @ciaranmcmeeken
McMeeken’s fist EP The Valley was recorded with local musicians Tim Greenslade and David Craig. Greenslade showed acclaimed music producer Greg Haver McMeeken’s music.
McMeeken says, “Greg and I recorded an EP together, Screaming Man, and then went on to record my debut album Ambient Light in 2016.”
McMeeken recalls it being incredible when the album’s first single, City, was picked up by radio stations nationwide.
The singer-songwriter made the move to the US in 2019 after visiting Los Angeles, New York and Nashville the year previously.
A few years of couch surfing in Texas, working on a ranch in Missouri followed and it was while living in Ohio that a friend suggested Asheville, North Carolina’s pace of life might suit McMeeken.
He has lived in Asheville ever since, a place he describes as an approachable city, similar in size to Dunedin.
McMeeken met Voigt and Calhoun at an open mic session in 2021 and Ashes & Arrows was born. The name is a combination of two members from Asheville and one from Arrowtown.
“There was an immediate connection between the three of us and we sang the song the following week and we knew that something new and special was happening,” says McMeeken.
In the early days, the trio travelled for shows around North and South Carolina and Tennessee, and further afield sometimes in their old Chevvy van nicknamed ‘Old Grundy’.
The trio often go away for up to a week into the mountains in North Carolina and write together.
“The essence of the band is really centred around honesty, vulnerability, and connection,” says McMeeken.
“It’s really important for the three of us to be in harmony with one another, otherwise, this whole thing doesn’t work.
“We are all so different, so it is challenging to be on the same page together.”
When it came to record some music, the trio struggled to find the right producer Stateside and McMeeken’s Kiwi dynamo producer Haver was their harmonious maestro.
Haver produced the band’s 2022 debut EP Forward which garnered thousands of streams, while their engaging videos have amassed millions of views on TikTok and Facebook.
The future is looking stellar for Ashes & Arrows. Photo / @ciaranmcmeeken
“We recorded over the space of a month via Zoom, as we were in different countries and it worked surprisingly well,” says McMeeken.
Since then, Ashes & Arrows has played hundreds of shows, starting in restaurants, moving to bars, clubs, and even theatres.
“Now we are starting to play bigger shows which is incredibly satisfying.
“We just finished recording our album with famed Nashville producer Jamie Tate at the Rukkus Room and we are really excited to release that soon.”
Sharing the same manager in 2017, the two artists wrote some songs together, and McMeeken joined Bell on stage in Napier for a song when she opened for The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks).
“Knowing how hard she has worked for such a long time, makes me especially happy for her,” he says. “Who knows, maybe we will do some shows together in the future!”
Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy Editor. Based in Auckland he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.
