R.I.P. Derf Scratch, Founding Member of Fear

By Vickie Chang Sat., Jul. 31 2010 at 11:45 PM

myspace.com/derfscratch

Derf Scratch, DOB unknown--2010

UPDATED: MIKE WATT REMEMBERS DERF SCRATCH.

Frederick Milner, better known as Derf Scratch, bass player for FEAR from 1977-1982, passed away on July 28 after a long battle with an unspecified illness.

Scratch was an original, founding member of the legendary punk band.

Fear was formed by vocalist/guitarist Lee Ving and Scratch in 1977. The Los Angeles band's probably most notoriously remembered for their controversial performance on the 1981 Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live, per request of punk rock fan John Belushi. Fear went on to perform the most offensive/awesome tunes possible--"I Don't Care About You," "Beef Balogna"--peppered with the most offensive/awesome language possible. The whole thing was topped off by a slew of bussed-in punkers (which included Minor Threat/Fugazi's Ian MacKaye and Belushi himself) slam dancing around the band on stage, eventually destroying the set. The entire thing was cut short after the band jumped to "Let's Have a War."

Full clip here--trust me, it's worth your time:

Fear released their debut album, The Record, in 1982. Scratch was "let go" from the band soon after touring in promotion of the album. According to a Citizine interview with former drummer Spit Stix:

"Derf was just not pulling his weight. It was like none of us had roadies in the early days. Actually we never had roadies. Just a very few on a couple of tours, but not regular roadies. Okay, we did have a couple of roadies. But at any rate, in the early days we didn't, when Derf was around. And if you didn't pull your gear, other people had to pull it and they'd get really resentful towards you. And I think that was one of the factors. And then just not wanting to rehearse as athletically as the rest of us. What none of us realized is what Derf brought to the table--this kind of Dean Martin classy drunk vibe. "

myspace.com/derfscratch

While not much is known about Scratch in the public eye post-Fear, he did own a MySpace music page. The "About Derf Scratch" section reads:

"On Wednesday, May 24th, 2006, Derf played a set with his new band, The Werewolfs, at the Mint in Hollywood. On the way home from that show, he was in a very serious car accident, but he's fine now. He say to one and all, 'Eat my fuck with love.'"

We Recommend

Ronathon

Damn auto spell, I know its Durf and not serf..

Ronathon

Wow, this is the first that I heard of Derfs passing. I used to be a bartender in Camarillo where he hung out. Serf was a lot of fun and never had anything bad to say about anyone. I could tell that he missed the scene because he would talk about it a lot. R.I.P. Serf, were gunman miss you...

Vince Conrad

Derf was a good friend, a great bass player and knew how to have fun. Derf played bass on a song I wrote entitled "Slut Babies" on the American Bad Taste CD recorded at Studio IT in LA in 1999. RIP Derf, you will be missed. Vince Conrad

Rick Olson

Well, I always thought that I was the only one in the world who people complained to about using too much toilet paper. To answer the question, the more paper between your hand and... the better. Let me guess, the toilet would plug up often as well?Not the topic I excpected to be posting about but...

R.I.P Derf

Philo Cramer

Derfy taught a guy named Tino to play bass, Tino knew Belushi, Fear became Belushi's fav punk band, so we played SNL. Derf said "Eat my Fuck". It perfectly summarized the whole scene, and it stuck. He never took a sax lession, so his sax playing was pure. The guy lived in my garage for about a year. What me & the other roommates could never figure out was someone would buy a four-pack of toilet paper, and the next day it was all gone. We had to hide our personnal tp. What the fuck was Derfy doing with it? Was his girlfriends stealing the stuff or what?I'll miss you Derf.

maxeythecat

Jeezus, you guys........couldn't you at least published this in the LA Weekly? This teensy little obit in the OC Weekly and that's IT? Shame on you! Derf was an LA musician in one of the most notorious bands in punk, and you can't even honor his memory with an obit in his home town's own newspaper....pathetic!

Goyo

Derf was a member of the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo Lodge. He has gone to graze in greener pastures. Woop Woop Brother Derf. Mooooooooooo

candye kane

derf was an awesome guy and my lover for a brief time. he was a scorpio. weird that it says birthdate unknown, i think it was oct 30. derf was fun and smart and super sexy and talented. sad to see him and so many others leave us.

Christian L

Hey Candy Kane, I was a post Fear friend of Derf's and was with him till the end, he actually spoke of you a few times with fond recall.

Tesco Vee

Belushi never showed his face that nite..I was there...best part was John Brannon grabbing the mike and saying 'Negative Approach is gonna fuck you up!' that went out over national TV

YouTube

This video has been removed by the user.

patrick

More Beer!

Vickie

Richard/MMC: Sorry, typed it up in a hurry, definitely JOHN.

Also: It's definitely "eat my fuck with love" if you check the MySpace page linked.

MMC

Richard is right. It was JOHN Belushi who got Fear on SNL (see "Wired" and a whole bunch of other sources). JOHN Belushi was such a big fan of theirs he tried to get their music used in his movies. Since this was back before Green Day made "punk" safe for family entertainment, a star of JOHN Belushi's magnitude advocating for Fear was a big, big deal. I think you should make a correction.