If you’re a San Luis Obispo resident, you might have seen bright blue flyers posted all around town over the last few weeks with pink bubble text that reads: “The Couch Dog Hotline.”
Local surf rock band Couch Dog created their own phone hotline to involve the community in the release of their new single, “Dial Tone.”
“People love to be a part of something, so I figured we could make it something that they can participate in,” said Couch Dog singer and rhythm guitarist Max Ferrer, “Then through that hopefully more people would talk about the song.”
Couch Dog’s hotline has received over 3,000 voicemails from people, eager to share their stories.
“It’s just fun listening to what people have to say,” said Couch Dog bassist Tasha Lee, “For the majority, people are sharing their embarrassing stories.”
“It’s a lot of pee stories,” added Ferrer.
In “Dial Tone,” Ferrer converts feelings of loneliness into a fun, upbeat track. Ferrer said he hopes the Couch Dog hotline will also help people make the best of their experiences, by showing them they’re not alone.
“A lot of times these things happen to us, and you’re like, ‘this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to anyone. No one can relate to this’,” said Ferrer, “But we have a thousand other voicemails from other people who the same thing happened to.”
Leading up to the song release, Couch Dog reacted to people’s voicemails in a series of short Instagram videos. Couch Dog lead guitarist Pablo Acosta says interacting with the community has helped the band to garner a devoted fanbase.
“It takes effort, but it’s totally worth it because the quality of the fanbase you build is amazing,” said Acosta, “We have people with our logo tattooed on their body, which is pretty freaking cool.”
Couch Dog’s new single, “Dial Tone” is out today.
