Frederick Charles Milner III (October 30, 1951[2] – July 28, 2010[3]), better known by his stage name Derf Scratch, was an American musician, best known as a former member of the punk rock band Fear and its original bass guitarist.
Fear hung on until the mid-1980s, eventually breaking up due to the death of the Hollywood punk scene and Ving's increasing interest in acting and performing country music.
Lee instead decided to use unknown "hired guns" to perform and record with Fear in order to maintain all the publishing rights and keep the royalties.
[citation needed] Scratch, wishing to concentrate on guitar and saxophone, sold the Fender bass he used on The Record to then-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt.
[5] During the last 5 years of Derf's life he developed an interest in art, he began painting in 1994 alongside of his wife Tammy who was an artist creating original jewelry pieces that she sold under the name Rita Blackwood.
[7] Derf was ostracized from the Saturday Night Live cast as it was suspected that he contributed to John Belushi's death by giving him his first taste of heroin.
To make matters worse Derf did an interview with Bob Woodward for the book "Wired" in which he exposed a lot of the rampant drug use in John's circle of friends.