New Single “Blood Lines” Brings Together Two Generations of Pennsylvania Rock

Robin Ross and Carmine Gontz release the single Blood Lines through Pennsylvania label RPM Entertainment on August 11, 2026, premiering on Retrofuturista.

Written and performed by Ross with his band Jack’s Maze, the track marks the first collaboration between the two musicians and centers on family and generational continuity, an idea Ross has described through the image of bloodlines passing on like sand through an hourglass. The recording features Bill Snyder on guitar, Scott Cowan on melodic guitar, Frank Cinquegrana on drums and Joe Torres on bass, produced and mixed by Ross at Baa Baa Leaf Music Studio in Milford, Pennsylvania, alongside engineer Jonathan Duckett, whose credits include Philip Glass, Kenny G and David Sanborn.

Gontz, working in a hard rock register with gothic and theatrical elements, received the Central Pennsylvania Music Award for Best Youth Artist and debuted with the single Planet 25, produced by Dan Malsch (Ghost, Motionless in White, Bowling for Soup, Doro Pesch). His follow-up, Lost In Space, was produced by Matt Starr and featured bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake) and drummer Mike Dupke (W.A.S.P., Dee Snider, John Mellencamp). On Blood Lines, his voice reaches a register rarely heard from an artist still this early in his catalog. Gontz is currently working on a debut EP.

Ross entered the New Jersey and New York music circuit in 1988 and has spent over three decades as a musician, songwriter and producer, having built recording spaces including Triple R Studios and Sound Complex near New York City. In the early 1990s he co-founded Laughing Jack, later renamed Jack’s Maze, noted for a progressive rock sound compared to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. After years working as an energy engineer, he returned to music in 2021, building Baa Baa Leaf Music Studio and reuniting with Cinquegrana, Cowan and Torres for a new album, Once in a Blue Moon, expected in autumn.

Under the name Robin Ross & The Melodynes, the group’s recent single All I Want (Is A Lover) appeared in the Apple TV+ and Peacock series Margo’s Got Money Troubles, starring Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman and Nicole Kidman. Earlier this year the project released its second album, Mind Space, with contributions from Wharton Tiers, JoEllen Gaetani, Katlyn Albrecht, Emery Rhodes, Tony Anniello, Joe Torres, TW Howell and Nancy Isola. Under a separate name, Robin Ross & The TW Howlers, Ross released the EP Back To The Forest in 2025.

Blood Lines is available on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Bandcamp.

retrofuturista

Retrofurista is a site on design, interesting things, audio visual arts, and food.