According to a post on the Anti- label blog (and as reported by Pitchfork), Derf Scratch, bassist for L.A. hardcore band Fear, died last Wednesday of as-yet-unknown causes. In a statement purportedly from his sister, Scratch is said to have died from "cirrhosis, kidney failure, and pneumonia after decades of alcohol and drug abuse" at the age of 59.
Scratch—real name Frederick Milner—founded the band in 1977 with singer Lee Ving, more or less abandoning his job as a realtor (where he worked with both of his parents) and sneaking off to practice while pretending to be out looking at properties. The group released the single “I Love Living In The City” later that year. A band so rough-and-tumble that it would openly goad its audiences into trying to fight them, Fear developed a reputation as one of the most hardcore acts in a city teeming with them—a reputation that was secured once director Penelope Spheeris documented one of their sets in The Decline Of Western Civilization, during which the group duked it out with the crowd before ever playing a song. Decline also featured a scene where Scratch immortalized the phrase, “Eat my fuck.”
As documented in Bob Woodward’s Wired, Scratch became good friends (and coke buddies) with John Belushi, who campaigned to have Fear play the now-legendary performance on Saturday Night Live that was broken up by a mosh pit featuring Belushi, Ian MacKaye, The Meatmen’s Tesco Vee, The Cro-mags’ John Joseph, and Negative Approach’s John Brannon, among others. That appearance also featured the group’s “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones,” on which Scratch played sax. (Anti- says he was “rumored to have possessed a masters degree in music.”) Shortly thereafter, Spheeris’ husband, Slash Records president Bob Biggs, gave the group its first recording deal.