AUSTIN, TEX. -- Talk about being the biggest game in town.

Heavy metal legends Metallica invaded the South by Southwest Music Festival yesterday to launch their title in the Guitar Hero video game series, hold a series of interviews with media from across North America -- and to play a secret club show for several hundred lucky fans last night.

Naturally, Sun music geek Darryl Sterdan wormed his way into the gig. But first, he sat down for a few minutes with Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Here's what he had to say:

On why they're in Austin:

"We wanna get some really good barbecue food. That's the main reason. We're also here to talk about Guitar Hero. And there should be a fun, festive party a little later at an undisclosed location."

On playing a club show:

"It isn't (the norm). But we enjoy playing venues as small at this. That's one of the things about Metallica. It doesn't matter if we're in a stadium or we're playing a bar or a theatre. It's all about the music and the fans and interacting with them."

On Guitar Hero:

"It's a great way for people to experience the music of a band ... it's almost educational in that sense. People can learn about groups from Santana to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Journey ... Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath. My son loves rocking out to Paranoid and he's only four years old. I always end up picking up the microphone and singing. I'm Ozzy and he's Tony Iommi."

On the cartoon version of him in the game:

"I think it's very cool. They made my arms a lot bigger than they normally are. That makes me feel good. Actually, they had me built bigger than I am. I got them to tone it down. But it's still pretty beefy."