Bog Biggs, publisher to Faith No More, Violent Femmes and Misfits, dies

Bob Biggs, who founded Los Angeles independent label Slash Records, has died aged 74, Billboard reports. The label grew out of the Slash punk fanzine, where Biggs, a painter who lived next door to its offices, was a contributor in 1977. A year later, he founded Slash Records and put up $1000 to fund The Germs' 'Lexicon Devil' 7" and then released the band's classic debut album, 'GI', the next year. Biggs kept Slash Records, and the magazine, going after the other founders left and though the publication folded in 1980, the label stayed alive. While primarily known for L.A. bands -- their roster included Fear, Faith No More, Los Lobos, Dream Syndicate The Blasters, and Rank & File -- Slash widened its scope, releasing records by Violent Femmes, Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, Misfits, BoDeans, Burning Spear, The Chills, and more. Bob ran Slash, which by the mid-'80s was distributed by Warner Brothers in the U.S. and London Records in the UK, until its dissolution in 1996.