Show No Mercy (Slayer Album) - Touring

Touring

The band went on their first tour of the United States after the album's release—Slagel gave the band a list of addresses and contact numbers of the venues. Araya was still working at the hospital, and called the members saying, "Today’s the day. Are we gonna do this?" The band knew if they did not tour now, they never would. So they set out taking Araya's Camaro and U-Haul. During the first leg of the tour, Slayer had no manager; Doug Goodman, who had met the band when he was first in line for their first show in Northern California (opening for Laaz Rockit) took a vacation from his job at a grocery store to help out on the tour, eventually becoming the band's "tour guide". Goodman now tour manages acts such as Green Day and Beck.

Kevin Reed, a friend of the band, set up the drums and lighting when touring with the band. Reed's father, Lawrence R. Reed drew the Minotaur with the sword on the album's cover. Araya's younger brother Johnny Araya—who was thirteen or fourteen was a roadie who set up the back line and sound. Hoglan was also a roadie, but was fired after the second show, due to the lack of knowledge of what to do. The band hardly made enough money to sustain themselves, only buying the "essentials" such as food, gas, and beer. Araya asserts: "We basically used whatever money we got to get from point A to point B. When we got back, Brian was like, 'So, where’s the money?' And we were like, 'What money?' At that time, we didn’t realize that you had to ask for money up front. I think he got a lot of money sent directly to him, and we were supposed to pick up the rest."

The band performed in a hotel in Winnipeg, where the basement was the club. Araya comments "We stayed there for like four or five days, I think. We saw Verbal Abuse play there. Then we played a place in Boston called the Lizard Lounge. In fact, a car had run into the front of the building, and it was all boarded up, but we still played there." When one of the guitarists broke a string Araya would hand them the bass, Hanneman stating "We’d argue about it, too—like, 'I wanna play bass for a while!'"