# Offensive Weapon (Belfast Oi Band)

Offensive Weapon were a short lived far-right 'Oi' band formed in Belfast in 1981. Their lineup consisted of Sam 'Skelly' McCrory on vocals, Brian Watson on guitar, Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair on bass, and Julian 'Tarzen' Carson. The band were noted for espousing white nationalist, racist, neo-Nazi and sectarian views, with their members later becoming prominent in the Ulster Defence Association.

## History

Offensive Weapon were a short lived far-right Skinhead band formed in Belfast in 1981. Essentially they were a Shankill Road outfit. They recorded a demo with songs like 'Made In Ulster', 'Gestapo R.U.C', ‘We Killed Your Kid With A Plastic Bullet’, and 'Bulldog' (which had a theme of 'Keep Britain White'). They made appearances at a number of White Power gigs in 1983, being a member of the wider National Front family. Their first major live appearance was in a National Front-organised 'Rock Against Communism' festival on 29 September 1984 in Suffolk together with: Last Orders, Buzzard Bait, Public Enemy, Brutal Attack and Skrewdriver. Their dedicated following were known as the ‘Offensive Weapon White Warriors’ and Skrewdriver bodyguard Matty, led them. This band was noted in the media for wearing 'Hang Nelson Mandela' t-shirts and gave pro-Hitler press interviews saying that Hitler should have "gassed 'taigs' as well" during the Holocaust. Carson left the band in 1983. In September 1983, Adair and an associate of the band, Donald Hodgen, attended a National Front march aiming to violently disrupt a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally at Belfast City Hall.
Running parallel to the band was the skinhead street gang formed by Adair and McCrory with a group of young loyalist friends, who were heavily involved in both petty and violent crime. Other members included Donald Hodgen, "Fat" Jackie Thompson, James Millar and Herbie Millar. The gang gained widespread notoriety on 14 January 1981 following a vicious attack, accompanied with Nazi salutes, against fans of The Specials and The Beat when both played a concert at the Ulster Hall. The gang was not sanctioned by the local Ulster Defence Association and following the assault of an old age pensioner by the gang, Adair was given the option of joining the UDA or receiving a 'kneecapping' - he opted to join the UDA's youth wing, the Ulster Young Militants - while McCrory was kneecapped. The band would break up following McCrory's imprisonment in 1984.
McCory became the UDA/UFF leader in the Maze prison while serving 16 years for conspiracy to murder, before being released early under the Good Friday Agreement. McCrory was noted as still having a 'White power' tattoo on his right hand during prison visits by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam. Adair would become known for being a member of the UDA faction that used the Ulster Freedom Fighters cover-name. He later became the leader of the West Belfast UDA's ‘C’ Company. Both would be forcibly exiled in 2003 by the wider UDA following feuds and an unsuccessful attempt to take control over the entire organisation. Adair lived for Bolton for a time with an associate from neo-Nazi group Combat 18. McCrory died from a fall at his home in Ayr, Scotland, in 2022.