The Company of Snakes | |
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Also known as | The Snakes, M3 |
Origin | England |
Genres | Blues rock, hard rock |
Years active | 1998–2005 |
Labels | SPV |
Past members | Bernie Marsden Micky Moody Jørn Lande Sid Ringsby Willy Bendiksen Don Airey Neil Murray John Lingwood Robert Hart Gary Barden Stefan Berggren Jimmy Copley Mark Stanway Doogie White |
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.
The Company of Snakes was formed by former Whitesnake guitarists Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody [1] after the demise of its predecessor The Snakes. The band was completed by Black Sabbath and Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray, drummer John Lingwood from Manfred Mann's Earth Band and vocalist Robert Hart from Bad Company [2] and later British singer Gary Barden. After adding keyboardist Don Airey 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 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). [3] They were joined in Germany, during their promotional tour for this album by Humble Pie, re-formed by Jerry Shirley and promoting tracks from their album Back on Track . The band recorded one studio album [4] Burst The Bubble [5] (2002) which was recorded after Don Airey 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.
Year | Artists | Title | Type |
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1998 | The Snakes | Once Bitten... | Studio |
Live in Europe | Live | ||
2000 | The Company of Snakes | Endangered Species: Live at Abbey Road | Live |
2001 | Here They Go Again | Live | |
2002 | Burst the Bubble | Studio | |
2003 | M3 | Classic Snake Live | Live |
2005 | Rough an' Ready | Live DVD |
Donald Smith Airey 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, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake, Saxon, Wishbone Ash, Colosseum II, Ten, Sinner, Michael Schenker, Rainbow, Empire, Brian May, Divlje jagode and Living Loud. He has also worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Snakebite is the first official release by the British hard rock band Whitesnake. The original EP initially featured only four tracks and was released in the UK in June 1978 and never published in the US. Snakebite was re-released in September 1978 as a Double Extended Play containing four extra studio tracks taken from David Coverdale's second solo album Northwinds. The EP sleeve is entitled David Coverdale's Whitesnake and features photographs of the live band in concert. All tracks from the original EP also were used as bonus tracks on the 2006 remaster of Whitesnake's debut studio album Trouble.
Philip Neil Murray is a Scottish musician, best known as the former bassist of Whitesnake, the Brian May Band, Black Sabbath, and Gary Moore.
Lovehunter is the second studio album by British band Whitesnake, released in 21 September 1979. It was the bands first UK Top 30 album, charting at No. 29 on the UK Albums Chart. "Long Way from Home", the leading track on the album reached No. 55 on the UK charts, while "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues" was one of the most popular and praised Whitesnake's songs in the beginning. The album became controversial because of its cover art.
"Here I Go Again" is a song by British rock band Whitesnake. Originally released on their 1982 album, Saints & Sinners, the power ballad was re-recorded for their 1987 self-titled album. It was re-recorded again the same year in a new "radio-mix" version, which was released as a single and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 10 October 1987, and also No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart on 28 November 1987. The 1987 version also made No. 1 on the Canadian RPM singles chart on 24 October 1987. In 2018 at the BMI London Awards, it received the "5 Million Performances Award", while in 2022 it garnered the "8 Million-Air Award".
Michael Joseph Moody is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden he founded the Moody Marsden Band, and later, The Snakes, having previously collaborated with unofficial 5th Status Quo member Bob Young in Young & Moody. Along with Marsden and ex-Whitesnake bassist, Neil Murray, he formed The Company of Snakes and M3 Classic Whitesnake with which they mainly performed early Whitesnake songs. From 2011 to 2015, Moody toured and recorded with Snakecharmer, a band he co-formed.
Bernard John Marsden was an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as "Fool for Your Loving", "Walking in the Shadow of the Blues", "Ready an' Willing", "Lovehunter", "Trouble", and "Here I Go Again".
Mark Stanway is an English musician. He was the keyboard player for the hard rock band Magnum from 1980 until the end of 2016.
The Snakes were a British-Norwegian hard rock band, formed by former Whitesnake members Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody in 1997. The line-up consisted of guitarists Marsden and Moody with Norwegian musicians, vocalist Jørn Lande, bassist Sid Ringsby, who later joined the Norwegian band TNT, and drummer Willy Bendiksen. The band released one live album, one studio album and broke up in 1999.
Long Way from Home is a 1979 EP by British hard rock band Whitesnake. The titular song was written by lead singer David Coverdale, and "Trouble" and "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" are the B-side tracks. The song was taken from the band's album Lovehunter, and was the lead-off track. The song charted at number 55 on the UK Singles Chart in 1979.
The Early Years is a double CD compilation album released in 2003 by David Coverdale of Deep Purple and Whitesnake, not to be confused with the Whitesnake compilation album The Early Years released in 2004. It contains his first two solo releases, White Snake, and Northwinds, released in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Both albums retain the bonus tracks found on the Spitfire reissues from 2000.
"Don't Break My Heart Again" is a song by the English rock band Whitesnake from their 1981 studio album Come an' Get It. Written by vocalist David Coverdale, the song was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage. The guitar solo performed by Bernie Marsden was recorded on the first take. Despite numerous attempts to top it, Marsden eventually conceded and agreed to use the first take. Guitarist Doug Aldrich later named "Don't Break My Heart Again" one of his favourite Whitesnake songs.
"Love Ain't No Stranger" is a power ballad by the English hard rock/heavy metal group Whitesnake, and it is taken from the band's U.S.-breakthrough album Slide It In. One of the group's best known songs, it's been included in multiple multi-artist compilation albums as well as in various media from Whitesnake's own labels. Particularly well-received in the context of the 1980s heavy music boom in the Anglosphere, various music critics have praised its composition.
"The Deeper the Love" is a power ballad by the English hard rock band Whitesnake, taken from their 1989 album Slip of the Tongue. It was written by singer David Coverdale, along with guitarist Adrian Vandenberg.
"Crying in the Rain" is a song by the English hard rock band Whitesnake. The song was originally released on the group's 1982 album Saints & Sinners, but was re-recorded on the group's 1987 multi-platinum album Whitesnake. The song was inspired by singer David Coverdale's divorce.
"Slow an' Easy" is a song by the English rock band Whitesnake from their 1984 album Slide It In. The album provided the group with a commercial breakthrough in the United States, and this specific song, which was released as a promo single, became a hit on rock radio. "Slow an' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger" reached #17 and #34 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, respectively.
Live... In the Still of the Night is a live concert DVD by the band Whitesnake. The concert was filmed on 20 October 2004 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. It was released regularly on 5 May 2006 featuring the recording of the live performance, behind-the-scene documentary and a photobook. The limited "special collector's" edition which was previously released on 7 February 2006 includes a bonus live album CD with ten selected songs from the same show.
Empire is a British-German heavy metal band founded in 2000 by former Majesty guitarist, Rolf Munkes.
"Standing in the Shadow" is a song by the English hard rock band Whitesnake from their 1984 album Slide It In. It was written by singer David Coverdale.