The Company of Snakes were an English rock band formed in 1998, by former members of the English rock band Whitesnake who were also members of The Snakes. They released two albums before morphing into M3 during 2004.

History

The Company of Snakes was formed by former Whitesnake

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

s Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody after the demise of its predecessor The Snakes. The band was completed by Black Sabbath and Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray, drummer John Lingwood from MMEB and vocalist Robert Hart from Bad Company and later British singer Gary Barden. After adding keyboardist

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician who has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore ...

from Rainbow, the band went on tour, playing concerts almost completely consisting of old Whitesnake songs. Singer Barden left the band soon afterwards and was replaced by Swedish vocalist and Snakes in Paradise frontman Stefan Berggren. They toured throughout their history and released the

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' Here They Go Again'': the show was still sung by Barden, but his lead vocals were deleted and replaced in the studio by Berggren (2001). They were joined in Germany, during their promotional tour for this album by

Humble Pie Humble Pie are an English rock band formed by guitarist and singer Steve Marriott in Moreton, Essex, in 1969. They are known as one of the first supergroups of the late 1960s and found success in the early 1970s with songs such as " Black Cof ...

, re-formed by

Jerry Shirley Jerry Shirley (born 4 February 1952) is an English rock drummer, best known as a member of the band Humble Pie, appearing on all their albums. He is also known for his work with Fastway, Joey Molland from Badfinger, Alexis Korner, Billy Nicholl ...

and promoting tracks from their album ''

Back on Track ''Back On Track'' is an album by country singer Billy "Crash" Craddock. It was released in 1989 on Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahm ...

''. The band recorded one studio album '' Burst The Bubble''(2002) which was recorded after

had left the band. Berggren left soon after Airey's departure and the remaining band members morphed into M3. After that, Micky Moody and Neil Murray went on to form Snakecharmer.

Members

* Bernie Marsden - Lead guitar (1998–2004) * Micky Moody - Slide & Rhythm guitar (1998–2004)

The Snakes

* Jørn Lande – lead vocals (1998–1999) * Sid Ringsby – bass (1998–1999) * Willy Bendiksen – drums (1998–1999) *

- Keyboards (1998-1999)

The Company of Snakes

* Neil Murray - Bass guitar (1999-2002) * John Lingwood - Drums (1999-2002) * Don Airey - Keyboards (1999-2002) * Ian Paice - Drums (2000) * Jon Lord - Keyboards (2000) * Robert Hart - Vocals (2000) * Gary Barden - Vocals * Stefan Berggren - Vocals (2000-2002)

M3

* Neil Murray - Bass guitar (2003-2004) * Jimmy Copley - Drums (2003-2004) * Mark Stanway - Keyboards (2003-2004) * Stefan Berggren - Vocals (2004) *

Doogie White Douglas "Doogie" White (born 7 March 1960) is a Scottish rock vocalist who currently sings for La Paz and Alcatrazz. He has also notably sung for Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Praying Mantis and Tank. Early li ...

- Vocals (2004) * Tony Martin - Vocals (2003-2004)

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Company of Snakes English blues rock musical groups English hard rock musical groups Rock music supergroups