Elite Tauren Chieftain

Elite Tauren Chieftain rockin'.

Logo of the band.

Elite Tauren Chieftain, or L80ETC/ETC for short, is a Blizzard in-house band made up of high-ranking employees, playing at events such as BlizzCon or WWI, and their in-game alter-egos. They mainly play songs that revolves around the Warcraft universe, an even in songs about StarCraft or Diablo, they usually have references to Warcraft. The band debuted in 2003 with their first song, "Power of the Horde," which was featured in the credits of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

Names

The band has gone through names much like characters go through levels. It is concistently linked to their most recent Warcraft game:

• Tenth Level Tauren Chieftain - 2003, Warcraft 3 Expansion released. The name came from that 10 was the highest level a hero character in WarCraft 3 could attain.
• Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain - 2005, BlizzCon. Name changed to imply a max level in-game mob/guard of 'elite' (extra tough and hard hitting) type in World of WarCraft. Short: L60ETC
• Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain - 2007, BlizzCon. Name upgraded to the new max level of the WoW expansion, Burning Crusade. Short: L70ETC
• Level 70-80 Elite Tauren Chieftain - 2008, WWI. Name upgraded to the new max level of the WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Leveled up 2 levels per song at the event. Short: L80ETC
• Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain - 2008, BlizzCon. Presumably they will keep this name from WWI 2008. Short: L80ETC

The band has yet to actually release any music on their own, but Blizzard have the publishing firm 'Azeroth Music', which does sell (or at least produce) game soundtracks.

Songs

The following songs have been made and performed by Elite Tauren Chieftain:

• "Power of the Horde" (2003-07-01) - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne end credits.
• "Leeroy Jenkins" (???) - ???
• "I Am Murloc" (2007-06-16) - Promo
• "Rogues Do It From Behind" (2007-08-04) - BlizzCon 07
• "Terran Up the Night" (2007-08-04) - BlizzCon 07
• "Raise Some Hell" (2008-06-29) - WWI 2008

Members

List of the band members and their in-game alter-egos:

• Mike Morhaime (Blizzard President) - Mai'Kyl (bassist, first in 2003)
• Chris Sigaty (Lead Producer StarCraft 2) - Sig Nicious (rhythm guitarist, first in 2003)
• Samwise Didier (Art Director) - Samuro the Blademaster (vocalist, first in 2003)
• Allan Dabiri (Quality Assurance etc) - Chief Thunder-Skins (drummer, first in 2003)
• Dave Berggren (Concept Art & Game Design) – Bergrisst (lead guitarist, first in 2005)

Easter Eggs

• You can get the song "I Am Murloc" as a downloadable bonus track for the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock game released on Xbox 360 and PS3.
• In World of WarCraft you can use the "/cheer" 'emote' to a band member during the in-game performances, which gives the cheering player a "Pumped Up!" buff, increasing all stats by 10% for five minutes.

Sources

1. WorldOfWar.net article.