Hoxton Tom McCourt

Tom McCourt
Hoxton Tom McCourt outside the Bricklayers Arms in Shoreditch, 1983.
Background information
Also known as	Hoxton Tom
Born	1961 (age 55–56) Shoreditch, London, England
Genres	Punk rock, Oi!
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Bass, guitar
Years active	1979–1984
Associated acts	The 4-Skins, Barney and the Rubbles

'Hoxton' Tom McCourt (born 1961) is the former bassist and bandleader of punk rock/Oi! band, The 4-Skins. He was one of the most influential members of the skinhead revival of 1977 to 1978, the mod revival of 1978 to 1979 and the Oi! movement from 1979 to 1984.

McCourt moved to Hoxton, and was given the nickname Hoxton Tom by West Ham United supporters, at a time when a number of key people involved in football hooliganism from outside West Ham's natural recruiting ground were given tags after the area they came from. He was and still is a Tottenham Hotspur F.C. supporter, but went to West Ham United matches with friends, many of whom were part of the Inter City Firm (ICF), which he became associated with.

Born in Shoreditch, London, England and an engineer by trade, Tom McCourt formed The 4-Skins in late 1979 along with Gary Hodges, Steve 'H' Harmer and Gary Hitchcock. Their first concert was in summer 1980, supporting The Damned and Cockney Rejects at the Bridge House in Canning Town. McCourt, Hodges and Harmer were all part of the Cockney Rejects road crew, as featured on the back cover of the album Cockney Rejects Greatest Hits Volume 1.

McCourt played guitar on The 4-Skins' first commercially released recordings (two songs on EMI's 1980 punk compilation, Oi! The Album) before switching to bass for the remainder of the band's existence. McCourt performed vocals in the song "New War", on the 1984 album A Fistful of 4-Skins, and performed lead vocals on a re-recorded version of "Chaos", which was released for the first time on the 2000 4-skins compilation Singles & Rarities.

McCourt was a continuous member of the band through its original incarnation, writing all of the music from 1979 to 1984, as well as writing most of the lyrics after Hodges' departure. McCourt was also a DJ at skinhead/mod bars and clubs in North and East London, such as the Blue Coat Boy at The Angel, Islington. He was known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of 1960s soul music, reggae and ska. McCourt has not joined the reformed line-up of The 4-Skins because, in his opinion, the band "was about youth".