Scott Travis
Encyclopedia
Scott Travis is a Grammy Award winning American rock
musician, best known as the drummer
for the English heavy metal
band Judas Priest
and the American heavy metal
band Racer X.
, and later on moved to play for the critically acclaimed Racer X, together with Paul Gilbert
, and very briefly played in Saints Or Sinners, which later changed their name to The Scream
, and also featured Travis's Racer X bandmates Bruce Bouillet
and John Alderete. His big career move came about late in the decade after Judas Priest
's long time drummer, Dave Holland
, exited the band, citing personal reasons.
Travis had always wanted to be the drummer of Judas Priest. As a young teen, he had often thought about setting up his drumkit in the parking lot at the Hampton Coliseum
in hopes that the band would notice him as they rolled through with their tour bus. He finally decided to wait out back of the arena, and hand the band a tape of his playing. Priest still had Holland, so nothing ever came out from the encounter. When Holland did leave Judas Priest in 1989, Jeff Martin
heard about it through his friendship with Rob Halford
. Martin called up Travis one day and said "Guess who needs a drummer." Travis auditioned for the vacant position and in 1989 got the job, thus becoming the first non-Briton to play for the legendary Birmingham
heavy metal monster. Travis has been with the band ever since and he also handles drum duties for his former band Racer X. He played drums in Halford's band Fight
from 1993 to 1995, but to date is best-known for his work with Judas Priest, for which he has been widely acclaimed ever since his debut with Painkiller in 1990.
Travis was also largely responsible for hiring Tim 'Ripper' Owens
as Halford's replacement in Judas Priest from 1996 until the 2003 reunion (see Judas Priest
for more).
He is commonly mistaken to be left-handed. In reality, he is ambidextrous, and plays with an open style.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician, best known as the drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
for the English heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
and the American heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Racer X.
Biography
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Scott was a well-known drummer in the local music scene of a region known as Hampton Roads during the early 1980s. Playing with bands in clubs throughout Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, and Newport News. Travis moved to California in the early/mid 1980s and played in various local bands, such as HawkHawk (band)
Hawk was a glam metal band which formed in 1984.Hawk once featured lead vocalist Charlie Wayne Morrill, guitarist Doug Marks, bassist Lonnie Miller , and drummer Glenn Burtis. This line-up recorded a demo in 1985 that was released as Let The Metal Live in 2009...
, and later on moved to play for the critically acclaimed Racer X, together with Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert
Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American guitarist. He is well known for his technical guitar work with Racer X and Mr...
, and very briefly played in Saints Or Sinners, which later changed their name to The Scream
The Scream (band)
The Scream was a Los Angeles-based hard rock band formed in 1989 as Saints Or Sinners. The band originally featured former Angora singer John Corabi and former Racer X members guitarist Bruce Bouillet, bassist Juan Alderete, and drummer Scott Travis. However, Scott Travis quickly left to join Judas...
, and also featured Travis's Racer X bandmates Bruce Bouillet
Bruce Bouillet
Bruce "Einstein" Bouillet is a guitarist who has played in the bands Racer X, The Scream, DC-10, and Epidemic.-Racer X:Bouillet played on Racer X's Second Heat, Live Extreme - Vol.I, and Live Extreme - Vol. II. After leaving the band, he joined with former Angora singer John Corabi, and his former...
and John Alderete. His big career move came about late in the decade after Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
's long time drummer, Dave Holland
Dave Holland (drummer)
Dave Holland is an English rock drummer, best remembered from his stint with Judas Priest between 1979 and 1989. He served time in prison for attempted rape of a 17-year-old boy...
, exited the band, citing personal reasons.
Travis had always wanted to be the drummer of Judas Priest. As a young teen, he had often thought about setting up his drumkit in the parking lot at the Hampton Coliseum
Hampton Coliseum
The Hampton Coliseum is a multi-use cultural, entertainment and sports arena in Hampton, Virginia. Construction on the arena began on May 24, 1968 and the venue opened in 1970 as the first large multi-purpose arena in the Hampton Roads region and the state of Virginia, opening a year prior to...
in hopes that the band would notice him as they rolled through with their tour bus. He finally decided to wait out back of the arena, and hand the band a tape of his playing. Priest still had Holland, so nothing ever came out from the encounter. When Holland did leave Judas Priest in 1989, Jeff Martin
Jeff Martin (American musician)
Jeff Martin is a singer and drummer who has sung for the bands Surgical Steel, Racer X, Leatherwolf, and played drums for the bands Badlands, Blindside Blues Band, and RedSea....
heard about it through his friendship with Rob Halford
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...
. Martin called up Travis one day and said "Guess who needs a drummer." Travis auditioned for the vacant position and in 1989 got the job, thus becoming the first non-Briton to play for the legendary Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
heavy metal monster. Travis has been with the band ever since and he also handles drum duties for his former band Racer X. He played drums in Halford's band Fight
Fight (band)
Fight was an American heavy metal band assembled by Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford, after his departure from that band in 1992. He took with him from Judas Priest and Racer X drummer Scott Travis, though Travis also continued to drum for Judas Priest...
from 1993 to 1995, but to date is best-known for his work with Judas Priest, for which he has been widely acclaimed ever since his debut with Painkiller in 1990.
Travis was also largely responsible for hiring Tim 'Ripper' Owens
Tim 'Ripper' Owens
Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with Beyond Fear, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and Charred Walls of the Damned. He first gained attention as the lead singer of Judas Priest, and then Iced Earth...
as Halford's replacement in Judas Priest from 1996 until the 2003 reunion (see Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
for more).
He is commonly mistaken to be left-handed. In reality, he is ambidextrous, and plays with an open style.
Equipment
Scott always used Tama Drums until 2008. On the first leg of the Judas Priest "Nostradamus Tour" he played a Pearl kit and then switched to a DW kit for the second leg. He was also seen using a DW kit at the NAMM show with his band Racer X. His DW setup is: two 23"x24" bass drums, 14"x6.5" snare,8" 10" 12" and 14" rack toms and 16"x16" and 18"x16" floor toms. Scott has played Paiste cymbals since May 1987.Racer X
- Second Heat (1987)
- Extreme Volume Live (1988)
- Extreme Volume II Live (1992)
- Technical Difficulties (1999)
- Superheroes (2000)
- Getting HeavierGetting Heavier (album)-Track listing:#"Dr. X" - 5:31#"Lucifer's Hammer" - 3:43#"Golden God" - 4:23#"Bucket of Rocks" - 4:27#"Go-GG-Go" - 4:19#"Heaven in '74" - 3:26#"Everything's Everything" - 3:46#"Empty Man" - 4:57#"The Siren's Eye" - 6:23#"Ghost Dance" - 5:03#"Endless" - 5:24...
(2002)
Judas Priest
- Painkiller (1990)
- JugulatorJugulator-Personnel:*Tim 'Ripper' Owens: Vocals*K.K. Downing: Guitars*Glenn Tipton: Guitars*Ian Hill: Bass*Scott Travis: Drums...
(1997) - '98 Live Meltdown (1998)
- DemolitionDemolition (Judas Priest album)Demolition is British heavy metal band Judas Priest's fourteenth studio album, and the first in the decade of the 2000s. It is the second and final studio album to feature Tim 'Ripper' Owens on vocals and one of the few albums to feature a Parental Advisory label...
(2001) - Live in LondonLive in LondonLive in London may refer to:*Live in London *Live in London *Live in London , by Amon Düül II, 1973*Live in London *Live in London...
(2003) - Angel of RetributionAngel of RetributionAngel of Retribution is the 15th studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in 2005. It marks the return of Rob Halford, after a 12 year departure from the band. The album debuted at #13 on the U.S. Billboard chart, which made it the second highest chart of a Judas Priest album...
(2005) - Rising in the EastRising In the EastRising in the East is a live DVD of Judas Priest performing a concert in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan filmed in May 2005.-Release:Heavy metal icons Judas Priest released the live DVD 'Rising In the East' on November 15, 2005, via Rhino Home Video....
(2005) - NostradamusNostradamus (album)- Personnel :* Rob Halford – vocals* K. K. Downing – guitars, synthesized guitars, producer* Glenn Tipton – guitars, synthesized guitars, producer* Ian Hill – bass* Scott Travis – drums* Don Airey – keyboards...
(2008) - A Touch of Evil: LiveA Touch of Evil: LiveA Touch of Evil: Live is Judas Priest's fifth live album, and the first with original vocalist Rob Halford since they reunited. It was recorded during the band's 2005, 2008 and 2009 world tours , and released on July 14, 2009.Recorded by Martin Walker and Brian Thorene, A Touch of...
(2009) - British SteelBritish Steel (album)British Steel is the sixth album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 14 April 1980. It saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on Killing Machine however; this time, they abandoned many of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their...
(Re-Release) (2010)
Fight
- War of Words (1993)
- A Small Deadly SpaceA Small Deadly SpaceA Small Deadly Space is the second and final full length studio album from the heavy metal band Fight, released first in Japan on April 12, 1995 with 11 tracks via Sony Music Entertainment.-Track listing:-2008 Remixed and Remastered edition:...
(1995) - MutationsMutations (Fight album)- Personnel :Fight* Rob Halford – vocals* Brian Tilse – guitars* Russ Parrish – guitars* Jay Jay – bass* Scott Travis – drumsProduction* Produced by Attie Bauw and Rob Halford* Executive producer – John Baxter* Recorded and mixed by Attie Bauw...
(half live and half studio remixes from first album, 1994)