For musician Roger Biersborn, having a solo outlet isn’t about overthinking or polishing ideas—it’s about immediacy. “No idea is too dumb,” he tells No Echo. “You don’t have to consider what your bandmates will be dragged into doing with you. There’s no gap between thinking of something and doing it.”
While Biersborn is active in several bands around Los Angeles—including playing bass in the cumbia group Los Quinceañeros and contributing to the hardcore punk band Destester —his solo work as Witch Piss exists in its own lane. “It’s definitely not a replacement for playing in bands with your friends,” he explains, “but I’d encourage anybody to do it! It’s fun, and it doesn’t matter if it’s good or not at all. Just get some cheap gear and make something dumb.”
Musically, Witch Piss pulls heavily from the current wave of lo-fi, DIY punk. Biersborn points to bands like Lumpy & the Dumpers, Skull Cult, and Liquids as key touchstones, drawn in by their rawness and sincerity. “The earnestness is really what appeals to me the most,” he says. “None of it feels over-produced or over-thought. Just really genuine.”
The latest Witch Piss release is an 11-track album called HOT BOG, which sounds like it was made by a psychopath in a basement surrounded by Devo records, old issues of Starlog magazine, a Radio Shack drum machine, and bad American beer:
That ethos extends beyond Witch Piss feeds into the project’s visuals. Biersborn handles all the artwork himself, leaning into a deliberately rough, hands-on process. “I get really excited about making the art for these releases. There’s something nice about spending an afternoon at Kinko’s or FedEx or wherever, photocopying your drawings at a shitty Xerox machine,” he says. Anyone who has ever played in the kinds of bands No Echo covers will relate.
For the HOT BOG release, he even created rubber stamps to hand-print cassette inserts, embracing the imperfections that come with it. “It’s almost never lined up quite right, and it’s a little sloppy, and I think it makes the whole thing feel a lot more warm and human.”
The visual direction pulls from a specific kind of nostalgia—cheap fantasy paperbacks, dollar-store dungeon imagery, and off-brand video game manuals. It’s not about precision; it’s about capturing a feeling. “I’m not sure if these examples are the universal touchstones I think they are, but it feels right,” he adds.
Despite the project’s intentionally loose approach, releases don’t come quickly. HOT BOG arrives after a noticeable gap, which Biersborn attributes to working solo. “I really make it a point not to slave over these songs,” he says. “Spend a day or two on a song and then enjoy what comes out. But then somehow two years will pass in between releases!”
That stop-and-start rhythm isn’t a flaw—it’s part of the design. “I pick it up when it feels fun, and I never really feel compelled to work on it in the interest of getting something done,” he explains.
Alongside the music, Biersborn has been experimenting with motion graphics, creating DIY videos that match the project’s offbeat tone. One recent clip features “a gross little man” looping endlessly, while an older video for “Wanna Be a Slug” involved sculpting a foam head and heading out into the hills with smoke bombs. “Pretty proud of that one,” he says, noting that even if music videos aren’t as central as they once were, he still finds value in making them.
Biersborn leaves us with the following words of wisdom: "I think everybody should make a solo project!
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