Scott Travis's Drum Setup on Judas Priest's Demolition (2001) | MetalForge
Scott Travis recorded Demolition (2001) on a Tama Artstar II kit with a Tama Artstar II Steel snare.
Inside Scott Travis's drum setup on Demolition, the final Tim 'Ripper' Owens album, released in 2001 with nu-metal and industrial influences, the only Priest...
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Demolition the last Judas Priest album with Tim 'Ripper' Owens?
Yes. Demolition, released in July 2001, is the second and final Judas Priest studio album to feature Tim "Ripper" Owens on vocals. Rob Halford rejoined the band in 2003, two years after Demolition's release, ending the Owens era. Owens went on to front Iced Earth and later joined Yngwie Malmsteen's band. Scott Travis drummed on both of Owens's studio albums, Jugulator (1997) and Demolition (2001), providing the only consistent instrumental thread through Judas Priest's entire Halford-less period from 1992 to 2003.
Did Scott Travis write any songs for Judas Priest?
Yes — Scott Travis co-wrote "Cyberface" on Demolition (2001) alongside guitarist Glenn Tipton, marking his only songwriting credit across his entire tenure with Judas Priest. Only one other Priest drummer, Les Binks, has ever earned a co-writing credit with the band. The track runs 6:45 and features more structurally unusual, angular rhythmic phrasing than Demolition's other cuts, a plausible result of Travis having direct input into the song's composition rather than simply drumming to a finished riff.
What drum kit did Scott Travis use on Demolition?
On Demolition (2001), Scott Travis played the same Tama Artstar II kit he used on Jugulator (1997) and Painkiller (1990), dual 22" x 16" bass drums, 10"/12"/13" rack toms, and 14"/16" floor toms. His cymbal setup was also unchanged: Paiste RUDE/2002 cymbals. The one addition was Yamaha hardware, a Yamaha HS-1200 hi-hat stand and Yamaha System 3 boom stands supplementing his existing Tama/Gibraltar rig. It's a case of refinement rather than reinvention: Travis had found a setup that worked on Jugulator and carried it forward largely intact.
Why does Demolition have a Parental Advisory sticker?
Demolition is the only Judas Priest studio album to carry a Parental Advisory sticker, due to profanity in the tracks "Machine Man," "Hell Is Home," and "Metal Messiah." It reflects the album's harder-edged, more contemporary nu-metal and industrial influences compared to the band's traditional output, a stylistic direction that began with Jugulator's downtuned thrash pivot in 1997 and pushed further on Demolition.
How does Demolition compare to Jugulator and Painkiller in Scott Travis's gear?
Demolition (2001) continues the same Tama Artstar II / Paiste RUDE/2002 setup Travis has used since Painkiller (1990), with Yamaha hardware added alongside his existing Tama/Gibraltar rig, a refinement rather than an overhaul. Travis was a Tama endorser from Painkiller through the mid-2000s, before later switching to Pearl and then ddrum — the stylistic evolution from Painkiller's speed-metal blitz through Jugulator and Demolition's groove-and-industrial-leaning material happened within one consistent Tama-era rig, not across gear changes.