Blizzard's extended maintenance can get a bit annoying. Sure, it's bringing with it the Secrets of Ulduar 3.1 content patch, but really - 10 hours? - what are you going to do with all that time you were going to spend playing?

Glad you asked - we've got something very special for you today, which should help tide you over until the realms are back up. Fans of World of Warcraft rejoice - we managed to land ourselves an exclusive (and rare!) interview with none other than Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, Azeroth's home-grown rockstars making a crossover into the human realm.

Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain

Since the release of their debut tune, Power of the Horde, was featured in the credits to Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain have gone through several name changes (as the members level up), and one lineup change which saw Arthas Menethil leave the band, citing "artistic differences" before going on to become the Lich King, with the band adding Sig Nicious to the lineup on lead guitar. If playing to massive audiences wasn't enough, the band have even had their tune I am Murloc featured as a playable track as part of Guitar Hero III.

With the band's hectic schedule preventing an in-person interview (they play every three hours in the World's End Tavern in Shattrath City), Sig, singer Samuro, rhythm guitarist Bergrisst, drummer Chief Thunder-Skins and bass player Mai'Kyl sat down and answered a few of our questions, giving us humans a little insight into the lives of these Horde heartthrobs.

Games On Net: You’re obviously very famous in Azeroth, what’s it like playing to huge human audiences?

Mai’Kyl: Ahh we like de humans very much...
Samuro: Agreed! Without the humans and the rest of the Alliance fodder we would have to fight amongst each other. Fighting Horde is much more difficult than fighting gnomes and elves and blue people.

Mai’Kyl

Without even releasing an album in this realm, you’re playing to sell-out arena crowds, plus being televised internationally. Do you find that your reputation precedes you?

Sig Nicious: I think a lot of it has to do with our amazing lead guitar work.
Chief Thunder-Skins: Elf, please. It is easily because of the thunder I bring upon my drums of war.
Bergrisst: Yessss, yesssss it isss all that. Plusss the fact that it ssseemss that all the ssshows come free with a ticket purchasse to BlizzCon. And the rhythm guitarsss are the abssssolute bomb!

The band does appear to have a slight bias that comes through in your live shows, but we’re still interested: of all the audiences you’ve played to - who’s your favourite fanbase, Horde or Alliance?

Samuro: Ah that’s simple. Alliance audience is best.
Mai’Kyl: Ya mon, Horde audiences just sing along, make mosh pits, and throw up der horns. Alliance audiences really get into de shows. They throw bottles and rocks and sharp tings at us. Dey really show us de love.
Sig Nicious: Did you know that my dodge ability is up to 475 now? That’s totally higher than the max! I am amazing.
Chief Thunder-Skins: My dodge is only 2. Hard to dodge when you are sitting behind drums.

Samuro

The natural extension of that sort of question is, of course: which race have you found to be the most fun?

Sig Nicious: I would be so bold as to say....
Samuro: FEMALE DWARVES!
Mai’Kyl: Oh geez, mon! Really?
Samuro: They are thick, tough, strong, and durable. Like a good anvil or battle axe.
Sig Nicious: Well, what could I say to follow that....other than they do have very nice hair and skin. Must be all the minerals and iron and such in their water.

For a band that’s spent so much of the past few years on the road, we’re sure you’re familiar with the mantra “What goes on tour stays on tour.” ...but do you have any interesting (or incriminating!) stories you can share with us?

Samuro: Nope, nope, nope. Not gonna happen.
Chief Thunder-Skins: Don’t be silly. We have nothing to hide....
Mai’Kyl: Well, if I tell you da story about Bergrisst and da female ogre mud wrestler....
Bergrisst: I might be compelled to tell the one when SSSamuro found what he thought wasss an old candybar and....
Samuro: Then I would tell about the time when I caught the Chief all dressed up in Sig’s favorite pair of....
Chief Thunder-Skins: Ha, uh, well you are all such jokers! Next question please....

Sig Nicious

Backstage is where all the fun happens, so here’s a double-edged question – what’s on your rider – and do you have any rituals before you go onstage?

Here is our top ten list:

1. 100 pints of lager/ ale (Stormstout, Thunderbrew, etc.)
2. 200 knuckles of wild hog shank
3. 40 rolls of netherweave toilet paper
4. 10 gallons of soy/rice milk and cheese (for the Chief)
5. Onyxia’s head on a stick
6. 5 pounds of M&M&M’s (All brown, black, and grey. No pink, teal, or lavender allowed!)
7. A leather glove
8. 10 bottles of RustAll (armor and blade spray-on rust)
9. Arclight spanner
10. 5 hearthstones to Orgrimmar (need to check AH after gig)

Sig Nicious: We don’t have any real rituals. We do like to gather two to three hundred assorted local Alliance city guards for a little pre-show slaughter. You know, nothing too strenuous, but something that gets the blood flowing a bit.

While we’re sure you’ve taken influences from all over the place, who would you consider has had the greatest impact on Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain?

Bergrisst: Some of the true masssterss of metal. Black SSSStabbath, Dead Zeppelin. They have been around ssso long they musssst be Forsaken.
Mai’Kyl: What about Jethro Troll?
Chief Thunder-Skins: I wouldn’t consider their mooooosic...sorry. I wouldn’t consider their music metal.
Samuro: Jethro Troll is not metal!

Chief Thunder-Skins

On a similar topic, which band would you most like to collaborate with?

Sig Nicious: Orcpeth. Horde-flavoured death metal!
Mai’Kyl: I be a big fan of world music, mon. New bands like Gnomery and Night Elvis have a lot of potential...
Samuro: To Fel with that! That isn’t music, that's whiny, quit-your-Battleground-cause-you-are-losing QQ music. We want to work with real bands like, like ManoWarrior! They play true Horde-worthy metal... DEATH TO FALSE METAL!
Mai’Kyl: Easy, mon...What about Billy Troll? You know, “Sing us de song, you da voodoo mon.”
Bergrisst: I also like his song “Uptown Ghoul”....
Samuro: You’re right... (sniff) I’m sorry I am so (sniff, sniff)... it’s just that it is still seven months till Brewfest. Can I have a minute, please...

Looking at the individual songs, we’re curious - where did you draw inspiration from for tracks like "Terran Up The Night" and "Raise Some Hell", which don’t seem to have their roots in Azeroth?

Mai’Kyl: Deez songs were based on pre-Azerothian history books we uncovered while we were playing a grand opening show in Ulduar. Dey tell de tales of how in de old days there was a really big fiery demon who kept coming back for some reason and some silly little races called protoss and zerg.
Bergrisst: They even had pinkskinssss called terransss, which is where we got the name for our sssssong, “Terran Up the Night”.
Chief Thunder-Skins: There were rumors that the tauren were allied with the terrans at the time and fought by their side.
Samuro: Terran... tauren...You related to pinkies, Chief?
Sig Nicious: Hmph, might explain why he is so MOOdy.... Get it...moo-dy. Oh come on, that was funny.

Bergrisst

We appreciate that rockin’ out can be a full time occupation, but do any members of L80ETC have day jobs?

Sig Nicious: Pffft. Jobs are for peons with no Light-given talent to play the lead guitar.
Samuro: No time for work, work, work. We want to party every day and rock and roll all night.... Hmmm, that’s some good lyrics there. I must remember them for a future song.

And finally, to put the fanboys’ and girls’ hearts at ease, we have to ask: are there any plans to tour the human realm once again in 2009?

Mai’Kyl: We hope so, mon. We hope so. And if we do, just hope that you see us before we see you.

Well folks, there you have it. These guys hold enough sway with promoters that I don't think it'll require too much finger-crossing to get them to make a re-appearance in the human realm... I'm thinking we may see an announcement closer to August?

As mentioned earlier, World's End Tavern in Shattrath City is the place to see these guys live - if you can't get there, we do have their recent single, I am Murloc available in both video form and downloadable MP3.

By the way, some sharp-eyed observers have commented on the similarity between the members of Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain and various human realm Blizzard employees. Specifically, they point to art director Samwise Didier and observe his somewhat metal appearance would not be out of place for a band's frontman, they hear stories that both StarCraft II lead producer Chris Sigaty and concept artist and game designer Dave Berggren allegedly rock out on guitar in their spare time. The callouses on Blizzard veteran Alan Dabiri's hands may have more to do with drumsticks than with his senior programming role and the company's president and co-founder Mike Morhaime allegedly plays a mean bass guitar. Unfortunately, these are questions for another time, as the band had to get back to their gig. Next time, my friends. Next time.