The Company of Snakes was formed by former
Whitesnake guitarists
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
Manfred Mann's Earth Band and vocalist
Robert Hart from
Bad Company 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). 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
Burst the Bubble (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. == Members ==