Slayer at the Seagull Inn, 1985

Mike and Kerry King wearing a Septic Death shirt

(As told by Mike Smith of Deceased)

The day was March 17, 1985. I saw probably the greatest Heavy Metal show of my life. Back then, shows were truly underground, word of mouth was how you found out about a show. About a week before March 17, my friend Tim heard that Slayer was playing a small club called the Seagull Inn in Essex Maryland. Besides the fact that no one knew if Slayer were really playing a show there, there was also the fact that there were probably a hundred bands calling themselves “Slayer” back then. This could have been some lame Baltimore band playing a set of covers in Bumfuck Maryland on a Sunday night. Tim and I didn’t care though, if Slayer were playing a show, we would be there. Another problem was we weren’t 21, and these were the days when they didn’t stamp your hand if you were underage, not 21, you don’t get in. We didn’t care about this either, we’d find someway to get in. So, we headed up to the Baltimore suburbs early, getting to the club around noon that Sunday.

The Seagull Inn was on the bay, really out in the middle of nowhere. When we pulled up there was no one there, we though there was no way Slayer was playing this place and we had wasted a few hours driving up to this place. We went up to the door, and there we saw a Slayer promo picture on the wall, saying that they were indeed playing that night, and I think it was $6 to get in. We were excited, but still had no idea how we were going to get into the show.

Mike and Tom Araya

About an hour after we arrived, a white van pulled in, with a U-Haul trailer behind it. It parked, and out came Slayer!! We went right over to the van, and I explained our situation to Tom Araya. He told us not to worry about it, they would tell the club that we were part of the crew. The guys were so cool, Tom talked to us the whole time we were waiting for the club to open. He said that this show was the second show of the Hell Awaits tour, and that they were going to NY in a couple of days to play with Exodus and Venom at Studio 54,. which we know now was the legendary show that made the Ultimate Revenge video. He told us we should follow them up to the next show in Delaware, and to the NY show. We were SO tempted, but I had school the next day, and my parents would kill me. Tom was so candid with us, as we talked about underground Metal, he said he would quit Slayer to join Exodus in a heartbeat, and he was serious! We took pictures with Tom and Kerry, had our albums signed and got some shirts. Finally, someone came and opened up the club and we went inside…

Continue reading “Slayer at the Seagull Inn” at Deceased… Up the Tombstones

This entry was posted in 1980s, Essex / Middle River, Music and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Slayer at the Seagull Inn, 1985

  1. laurent says:

    Logically it was 3/16/85 (I’m listening to it right now)…. 3/17 was the infamous showplace in Dover…. do you have any flyer for that Seagull inn show that could have surfaced later?

  2. Jay McLaughlin says:

    I grew up between the Seagull Inn and Hammerjacks…

  3. Ron Hamilton says:

    All of the Big four played there..Metallica in ’83 and the other 3 in ’85!!!..incidentally I lived across the River and would sneak in to see shows all the time..The Seagull was the Best!!!

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