Matt, Steve and Aaron releasing new music as Couch Dads!

Couch Dads Launch Second Single “Pluto World,” Taking a 90s-Rock Look at Cosmic Bureaucracy and Isolation

The multi-state collective follows up their debut with a tongue-in-cheek, guitar-driven tribute to the solar system’s most famous outcast.

ATHENS, Ga. – June 9, 2026 – If you grew up in the late 20th century, certain facts were absolute. You learned the alphabet, you memorized your multiplication tables, and you confidently counted nine planets in the solar system. Then, in 2006, a room full of astronomers reclassified Pluto as a “dwarf planet”—quietly rewriting the textbooks and leaving a generation of schoolkids feeling slightly betrayed.

That specific sense of cosmic bait-and-switch forms the backbone of “Pluto World,” the second single from cross-country indie-rock project Couch Dads. Following hot on the heels of their nostalgic debut “Couch Kids,” the new track blends the trio’s signature 90s guitar crunch with a story that zooms out several billion miles into the dark.

For the members of Couch Dads—Matt Williams (Athens, GA), Steve Abercrombie (Madison, WI), and Aaron Ford (Raleigh, NC)—the planetary demotion felt less like scientific progress and more like a personal affront to their childhood curriculum.

“It honestly felt like a bit of a gut punch,” says guitarist and vocalist Matt Williams. “You spend your whole youth locked into these fundamental truths. When they pulled the rug out from under Pluto, it made you wonder where the line was. Like, is Rhode Island gonna be a dwarf state? Is red really a color? We started wondering what Pluto actually thought about getting kicked out of the club after all those years.”

Musically, “Pluto World” trades the tight, localized nostalgia of their first single for a sprawling, atmospheric rock arrangement. Driven by a propulsive rhythm section and layered, melodic guitar work, the track sends the listener out to the frozen edges of space where Pluto quietly orbits in exile.

Beneath the humor and the absurdity of celestial politics, the song touches on a deeper, more relatable human experience: the feeling of isolation and what it means to be cast aside by an arbitrary committee. It is a track that offers a rare mix of perspective and wit, wrapped in a classic alternative-rock package.

Tracked entirely from their respective home studios across three states, the song highlights the band’s ability to maintain a tight, organic chemistry despite the physical distance between them.

“Pluto World” is out today on all major streaming platforms. The band is currently putting the finishing touches on a series of summer releases.

Three States, Three Decades, One Basement Tape: Couch Dads Defy Distance on Debut Single “Couch Kids”

Alumni of Blueground Undergrass, Trail of Dead, and Cosmic Charlie bridge the gap between Athens, Madison, and Raleigh to deliver a raw, guitar-driven tribute to their 90s coffeehouse roots.

ATHENS, Ga. – May 21, 2026 – Thirty years ago, they were just a bunch of local misfits nursing free waters and smoking cheap cigarettes on the beat-up sofas of a small-town Georgia coffeehouse. Today, they are scattered across three different corners of the country. But geography wasn’t enough to kill the creative itch for long-time friends and collaborators Matt Williams, Steve Abercrombie, and Aaron Ford. Reunited across state lines under a new moniker, Couch Dads, the trio has just dropped their debut single, “Couch Kids”—a gritty, unapologetic slice of 90s indie-rock nostalgia.

Operating entirely as a remote project, Couch Dads connects three distinct music scenes, with Williams tracking from Athens, Georgia, Abercrombie holding down the low end in Madison, Wisconsin, and Ford driving the rhythm from Raleigh, North Carolina. While long-distance file-sharing can often leave a record feeling sterile and disconnected, “Couch Kids” breathes with the raw, volatile energy of a band sweating it out in the same room. That cohesion is the direct result of a thirty-year shorthand that you simply can’t manufacture.

The song’s title is a literal nod to their teenage years in Carrollton, Georgia, where locals affectionately dubbed the youngsters “Couch Kids.” Their daily headquarters was the Corner Cafe—a rare safe haven for the town’s artists and weirdos. It was on those thrift-store couches that the three plotted their musical futures, and it was on that cafe’s tiny makeshift stage where they played some of their first-ever live shows.

The band’s collective resume reads like a road map of regional and national indie music history:

• Matt Williams (Guitar/Vocals) – Blueground Undergrass, Granfalloons, Pickled Holler
• Steve Abercrombie (Bass) – Nice Machine, Adam Klein, Cosmic Charlie
• Aaron Ford (Drums) – …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Bluetip

“The Corner Cafe was our whole world back then,” says Matt Williams. “If you didn’t fit in anywhere else in town, you ended up on those couches. Even though we’re trading tracks between Georgia, Wisconsin, and North Carolina now, the second Aaron locks into a groove or Steve hits a bassline, the distance just evaporates. It immediately takes us back to the smell of cheap coffee, stale smoke, and the absolute freedom of figuring out who we were on that little stage.”

“Couch Kids” is out now on all major streaming platforms. A complete digital press kit with archival photos and promotional assets is available upon request. Couch Dads are currently working on follow-up material from their respective home studios, with more release announcements expected later this summer.

About Couch Dads:

Couch Dads is the modern, cross-country evolution of a lifelong musical alliance between Matt Williams (Athens, GA), Steve Abercrombie (Madison, WI), and Aaron Ford (Raleigh, NC). Emerging from the mid-90s Carrollton, Georgia alternative scene, the trio’s members spent the next three decades touring and recording with influential acts across the jam, post-hardcore, and roots rock landscapes. Reconnected by modern technology but driven by old-school chemistry, they craft honest, guitar-forward rock and roll built on seasoned songwriting.