Derf Scratch, the bass guitarist who founded the seminal Los Angeles punk band Fear, died from liver disease late last month in Camarillo. A fitting end. He was 58. Derf (his given name of Fred spelled backward) joined the hardcore band in the late ’70s when it was forming in the San Fernando Valley, and their savage and sarcastic sound is evident on their snarky debut single in 1978, “I Love Livin’ in the City.” John Belushi was a big fan of the band, and his influence at Saturday Night Live got them a gig on the 1981 Halloween show, which resulted in a slam-dancing mosh-pit fiasco, with many injuries and major damage to NBC equipment, bless ’em. After appearing in Penelope Spheeris’ LA punk doc, The Decline of Western Civilization, and playing on the band’s first LP, The Record, in 1982, Scratch left the group, joined the Werewolves, and sustained serious injuries in a car crash after one of the band’s Hollywood shows.