On November 30, 1984, Slayer played their very first gig in San Antonio, Texas. The up-and-coming LA thrashers been booked in at the Villa Fontana, an old country music dancehall with a wooden balcony and a classic desertscape painted on the wall behind the stage. The band on before them that night were a bunch of local San Antonio kids who had carved out a name for themselves in their hometown’s vibrant metal scene. Their name? Well, that was Slayer too.
This wasn’t the first time two different bands had used the same name, and it wouldn’t be the last, but it’s the only time identically named bands have shared the same bill. These days, the night Slayer went head-to-head with Slayer at the Villa Fortuna has passed into legend as 80s metal’s ultimate Battle Of The Bands, a fight for the name – and the soul – of Slayer. After the dust settled, there was a clear winner: the LA Slayer stood victorious, ready to consign their Texan rivals to obscurity and write their own name in the history books. Except what really happened is a little more complicated.
