Connor McLaren Announces Tour Dates

With the release of the new music video, “Candy Rain,” Indianapolis-based troubadour, Connor McLaren, announces a slew of tour dates in support of his recently released debut album. One listen to the aptly named Innocence, and it’s as if you’ve known this 21-year-old heartland kid your whole life. 

“Bob Dylan doing a line of Oasis with a shot of Sublime,” is how young McLaren describes his multi-colored singalong story-songs. He fuses ‘60s and ‘90s beats with classic-rock tropes and keening post-Beatles harmonies. All of it sprinkled with a breezy island ska-reggae vibe thanks to his family’s annual pilgrimages to Jamaica.

Innocence was the first full-length album to be released in 2023 by The Noise Company, the independent label founded by Ben Kweller. It was a long and circuitous journey that started when McLaren heard Kweller’s music and was inspired to pick up a guitar and pen his own tunes, leading to the two connecting over Instagram, followed by years of McLaren pestering Kweller until it evolved into a full-fledged mentorship and collaboration. McLaren’s childhood idol not only performed and co-wrote many of the songs, but he also produced them at NoiseCo Studios located in Dripping Springs, TX.

McLaren has come a long way from busking outside his favorite rock clubs, hoping to get generous contributions to his “Weed Fund” tip box. Now he’s headlining those same clubs, and after crisscrossing the US throughout the summer and fall, he’ll headline Indianapolis’ HI-FI on December 22, 2023. Tickets for all tour dates are available HERE.

Innocence is McLaren’s path from adolescence to adulthood, knowing that you must leave the former for the bittersweet losses of the latter. The acid-rock blues of “Candy Rain” combines the dizzying rush of “Helter Skelter” with a dab of Mike Posner, with a guitar part written by McLaren’s brother Alec driving a sad tale about the pain and frustration of losing someone to addiction, inspired by a tragic overdose of a local teenager.

“If I could talk to a 14-year-old me and tell him what was going on, he’d lose his mind,” says McLaren about everything that’s happened to him on his way to Innocence. “I used to dream about being in this position. It’s magical, but it took five years and lots of hard work to get here.”

Finally, Connor McLaren has earned his Innocence. Time for us to take it from him as he sets out to play “anywhere and everywhere.”

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

August 17 - New York, NY - The Footlight
August 26 - Normal, IL - House Show
August 31 - Bloomington, IN - The Atrium
September 2 - Cleveland, OH - Mahall's Apartment
September 9 - West Lafayette, IN - House Show
September 12 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East
September 14 - Boone, NC - TApp Room
September 21 - Chicago, IL - Bookclub
October 14 - Charleston, SC - House Show
November 10 - Appleton, WI - Appleton Beer Factory
MORE INFO.

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