Chad Bowar from About.com: Heavy Metal spoke with CANDLEMASS/SOLITUDE AETURNUS singer Robert Lowe recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Chad Bowar: What are the plans for the next Solitude Aeturnus album?

Robert Lowe: "We’ve got a couple of dates here in Fort Worth and we’re doing a festival in August. As soon as finish the shows locally we’re going to start working on new material. Me and John (Perez, the band’s guitarist) have already got a couple of pieces we are working on. Either late this year or early next year we’re going to try to get something out there. No more eight year hiatuses."

Chad Bowar: Is there any way your voice could handle doing double duty if Solitude toured with Candlemass?

Robert Lowe: "People have brought that up. If it was a one-off deal I could do it, but not anything ongoing. Candlemass plays two hours and Solitude does over an hour, so that’s too much. It’s hard enough touring with just one band and playing every night."

Chad Bowar: When you sing the older songs, do you sing them as they were originally done, or do you put your own twist on them?

Robert Lowe: "I give it a pretty traditional rendition, because that’s what people expect to hear. When we do stuff from Epicus I’ll use the traditional clean higher voices like Johan (Landqvist, the band’s original vocalist) used to do. That way the crowd can get what they want to hear."

Chad Bowar: Do you pay attention to the doom metal scene, or are you pretty isolated from it living in Texas?

Robert Lowe: "I’m a recluse. I get a lot of questions about other doom metal bands. I listen to stuff like Dwight Yoakam. I fell out of listening to anything new. The crap that was coming out in the mid to late ‘90s disturbed me, so I just quit buying stuff. Now mainly I focus on older stuff or if somebody puts something in front of me that’s cool and new I might listen to it."

Read the entire interview here.