SPIDERS & SNAKES

Sunset Strip veteran Lizzie Grey formed London alongside Nikki Sixx back in 1979, yet Sixx quickly departed to launch Mötley Crüe and carried the pair’s “Public Enemy No. 1” with him. London never matched the commercial peaks of Mötley Crüe or its successor Poison, although Grey and his bandmates still savored abundant high times, moments captured in The Decline of Western Civilization 2: the Metal Years. Near the end of the 1980s, drummer Tim Jay teamed with Grey on a venture first called Ultra Pop, but the two soon judged the name insufficiently bold and rechristened the group Spiders & Snakes, without any confirmed link to the Jim Stafford classic. Maintaining their reliable regional audience, Spiders & Snakes openly rejected the rising grunge tide and issued five recordings chronicling their hedonistic lifestyle. Once Cleopatra, a label known for its darker aesthetic, bridged glam and goth audiences, the Spiders & Snakes rendition of “Public Enemy No. 1” unexpectedly appeared on the Mötley Crüe tribute Shout at the Remix. Cleopatra also supported the band’s fifth album, London Daze, which distilled Grey’s long career into a single release. Progress halted sharply after bassist Leigh Lawson passed away, compelling the cancellation of the planned London Daze tour.