We Speak Music
Randy Ross Turns Real Life Into Real Country on New EP Hard Days, Soft Nights
Some records try to sound cool. Randy Ross just sounds honest.
With his new EP Hard Days, Soft Nights, the Phoenix-born, Nashville-seasoned songwriter delivers a straight-up slice of vintage honkytonk country – the kind built on worn guitars, good stories, and a little bit of barroom wisdom.
Released January 25, 2026, the project arrives at a turning point for Ross. After years in Music City, he recently packed up for a fresh start in Northern California, and these songs capture his final chapter in Tennessee. Think of it as a musical postcard from the road: part memoir, part goodbye note, all heart.
The title track sets the mood perfectly. “Hard Days, Soft Nights” is a feel-good, working-man anthem written by Ross’s longtime friend and mentor Raymond Sisk. It’s about putting in the hours, doing the grind, and knowing there’s someone worth coming home to at the end of the day. Simple, relatable, classic country.
“I’m A Mule” brings a playful twist to the EP, with Ross reflecting on self-acceptance and the idea that not everyone is meant to be a racehorse. Sometimes being stubborn, steady, and true to yourself is exactly the point.
Then there’s “Good People,” a late-night duet with Kenny Sharp that feels like the last round at your favorite dive bar. It’s a nod to the characters you meet after dark – the ones who may look a little rough around the edges but usually turn out to be the best kind of company.
Taken together, the songs on Hard Days, Soft Nights paint a picture of everyday life: work, love, loyalty, laughter, and the occasional long night. No gimmicks, no gloss – just solid songwriting and a voice that means what it sings.
For fans of traditional country with a modern spirit, Randy Ross just served up the perfect soundtrack.
There’s a particular kind of hunger that defines a band on the verge — that combustible mix of raw talent, hard-won momentum, and the unmistakable sense that everything they’ve been building is about to break wide open. The Chads, the pop-punk-ska fireballers out of Sayville, New York, have that hunger in abundance. And in 2026, they are ready to feed it.
The foundation is already in place. The four-piece — Joy, Mike, Mark, and Santino — spent the past year stacking wins that most bands spend a decade chasing. They took home the WEHM Battle of the Bands, earned a coveted spot on the Jumbalaya Stage at the Great South Bay Music Festival, and walked into a WPIX Morning Show segment that put their faces and their music in front of a New York City-wide audience. For a band still in the early stages of their career, it is a résumé that commands attention.
Their debut single “The Neighbors” — a razor-sharp, high-energy pop-punk-ska hybrid pulled straight from a true story of Long Island life — announced their arrival with a wink and a riff. Tongue-in-cheek in tone but tight as a drum in execution, the song showcases exactly what makes The Chads stand out in a crowded regional scene: they can make you laugh and make you move at the same time, which is a far rarer skill than it sounds. The track is available on Spotify and has been making steady inroads on radio, building the kind of organic buzz that no marketing budget can manufacture.
Now comes the next chapter. The Chads are heading into Dream Studios with producer Jason Mekler to record their new EP — a project that represents the most significant creative investment of their career to date. Mekler’s production experience combined with the band’s live-honed instincts makes for a pairing with serious promise. If “The Neighbors” was the introduction, the EP is the statement — the recorded proof that what audiences have been experiencing in clubs and on festival stages across Long Island translates just as powerfully through speakers.
The tri-state area has been the proving ground. The world is next.
Pop-punk has always thrived on authenticity — on bands that sound like they mean it, that write songs about real places and real people and real absurdities of everyday life.
The Chads check every one of those boxes. They are a Long Island band in the truest sense: specific enough to feel genuine, relatable enough to travel far beyond the island that made them.
Watch for the EP. Watch for the tour dates. Watch for the name.
The Chads are coming — and they are bringing Sayville with them.
Watch The Chads “MFH” music video on youtube here:
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