a musical biome: community through Phage Gang

sunday, january 12th 2025 • boston, massachusetts

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“The Virus is spreading...start think about modern ecology, biomedic and medical brain viruses.”

A bacteriophage (a phage) is a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea. It’s derived from the Ancient Greek phagein, meaning ‘to devour.’ They are omnipresent viruses that are found wherever bacteria is found. Viruses are the most abundant biological entity in the water column of the world’s oceans and the second largest component of biomass after prokaryotes. Bacteriophages are known to interact with the immune system indirectly and directly. They interact with the immune system directly by influencing innate immunity and bacterial clearance; they interact indirectly by bacterial expression of phage-encoded proteins. Phage-host interactions are becoming increasingly important areas of research.

Phage Gang are a musical and production based collective based in Boston that stresses the importance of community just as much as the importance of the music itself. The group is made of multiple people, some known and some unknown. The core group, some of them being Theta, Cart, and Fern, sat down and talked to me about Phage Gang and the community that surrounds it. From sound duels, to art shows, alternating bars and producing, Phage Gang is a diverse group that strives to hold a space for like-minded people to find each other.

Hunter: I guess for the basics, who is in the group and what you guys all do?

Theta: Yea, I feel like thats a difficult question for me to answer. Part of me wants it to be somewhat mysterious. There’s some people that it’s really obvious that are in it, but then there’s some people we collaborate with that are less involved. There’s definitely a core group, but if that’s okay with you, I don’t want to 100% name names. People like Fern and Om and Apollo are like super known. Apollo puts it an insane amount of work. There’s some people who grind and put a lot of work into Phage Gang. What do you think, Carter?

Cart: Yea, definitely those dudes. It’s cool cause it just feels like a nice rotating cast of people. I don’t think we’re super set on a core group of people. There’s definitely the “core,” but we’re definitely happy to have people come in and out and contribute what they want to contribute. Something like what was set up on Friday of just having people come in and just show case their talent. I think that’s super cool. I think it’s just all about getting people involved to the degree that they want to be involved in. I think it’s just a fun collaborative space that we have a name for. It’s not super strict with who needs to be where.

T: Super well said, I completely agree.

H: That’s really cool. How did the “core group” meet? How do you all know each other?

T: Everyone kind of has a connection through Boston I would say. Whether if we grew up here or came here later in life. That’s definitely it. Physical location is really what it is. We host songs, we’re mainly a producer group. A lot of people in the crew also do vocals. We host songs for people who might not be connected to the city or the state. Pretty much everyone that we work with in the crew is connected through Boston. Whether it be living in the same area, having similar interests, or happenstance meetings.

C: I would say definitely location is the main thing. I mean, me and Arman (Theta) have known each other for 15 years, but I would say we’ve know each other in a music making sense in a lot less than that. Just kind of like that happenstance and the fact that people are relatively close together in the city just like brought everything together.

H: Where did the name ‘Phage Gang’ come from?

T: It comes from bacteria phages. Viruses that infect cells and essentially shoot their DNA into cells to hijack the cellular machinery and duplicate themselves. It’s

kind of just like the ‘phage virus’ spreading. I also like the idea of getting into someone’s head and them ruminating over Phage Gang and, you know, peeling back the layers. Fern do you want to talk about Phage Gang and what “Phagisms” mean?

Fern: Yea, for sure. Especially, coming out of this illness right now...the virus is spreading.

T: I think we’re all sick because we’re all really stressed. We all work really hard, I’m not going to lie.

F: It’s fun, though. That’s really what it is: the “Phage Mind Virus.” Infecting others with sound.

H: So you guys said that you’re more of a ‘production’ group in a sense? Like if people were to recommend or talk about your group, what would you want people to say?

T: I think that it encompasses a lot of art. There’s a lot of people that are in Phage Gang that aren’t even really musicians. I think it encompasses a whole entire artistic ethos: visual art direction, production. Pretty much everyone in the crew produces and we host vocals for people who aren’t in Phage Gang. We put out songs that we’ve produced that features our vocals as well. So definitely production, vocals, and art direction. What would you guys say?

C: Yea, I mean, that’s pretty well said. I would say like we’re the most prolific in the production space because that’s kind of what people gravitate towards. Especially when we meet up in person, it’s the easiest to collaborate beats. We can kind of just keep passing the laptop around until something clicks. Whereas, when we’re laying down vocals it can feel more like a process because people like to write and record in different ways. Personally, it takes me awhile to record vocals but other people in Phage Gang can just go bar for bar while recording and have a song done in 20 minutes. Like Arman said - mainly a production space, but I think that everyone has their own little niche they like to do from time to time. So we like to keep it all open.

H: Do you guys have any specific goals for 2025?

C: Oooh, I think definitely another album. That would be really fun. I think the last album we put out came together a lot more quickly than we anticipated so I kind of figured that might be how this one might go.

F: Personally I think we could get a couple of crazy placements as like a “producer mindset” and not just doing or own vocals, tapes and album. I think it would be dope to reach out to other people and send beats out in a way that’s like “you can get a song produced by Phage Gang.” I think that would be dope for 2025. Also, doing some more live shows for sure.

T: I wanted to contribute to what Fern said, really quickly. It’s like really hard to be a producer lowkey. It’s harder to be a producer than a rapper or a vocalist. It’s like a constant grind. I feel like you can make 100 beats but only one could be chosen to use. But if you’re rapping a bunch and getting really consistent with the songs it can take off a lot easier. I think it’s easier to succeed that way and less than a hussel.

H: Ah, yeah that makes sense. Do you guys individually have any specific goals for 2025? It doesn’t have to be music wise.

C: I think personally I came in with a new job towards the end of last year, so I’ve just been trying to better myself and get my schedule back on track and work in more productive ways. I’ve already had more time to go see friends or work on music and just kind of do what I like. I think just keeping with that, keeping a positive mindset. Just making time for things I enjoy outside of my working space is definitely a big thing for me.

F: I personally in 2025 want to graduate so bad. H: That’s so fair.

T: I can say that I want to be more patient, but less lazy. Because I think that being impatient can cause a reversed intention that stops me from taking action and getting things done. That’s kind of abstract. But I want to read a lot more. I had a bit of break from work during the holiday season and read a book for the first time in so long. It just reminded me that getting ideas from media that you consume and just living life...combing those two is what makes good art in my opinion. And as for Phage Gang - I want to do more interactive events. Like the event we had last Friday, the Sound Duel. It brought together members of the Boston community that would not have met if it weren’t for this event, which I thought was a huge success. I think maybe like an art show that incorporates stuff that’s more visual. Just other big shows and concerts. I want to book one big artist to come and bring a crowd.

H: Is there a specific message from your group or something specific you want people to take away from your group? From working with you guys, because you’re a collaborative group, as well as experiencing you guys as like a viewer?

C: That one’s kind of hard because of how many people are involved so it’s kind of hard to speak for other people...but going back to the safe space collaboration breeds in general. I’ve just found it to be a lot of fun. And meeting someone through music, like Fern, who I would wouldn’t have known otherwise is just really cool. There’s tons of other people I’ve met through it as well that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Keeping it open for people to connect on some sort of common ground is really cool. I don’t know if there’s one main message we want to get across because so many things change...the music will sound different, the visuals will look different.

T: I almost always thought that when I would be in an interview I would want to breakdown like every individual thought that goes behind every melody, drum or lyric. But I do think the mystery of letting things speak for themselves is cool. I want people to engage with our music and think about things they might not have before. Start conversations based on things they hear in our music or create their own art differently based on the things that we’ve made. Feel things compulsively they might not have put their finger on before. I just really want to tell a story that hasn’t really been told before.

H: Personally, what is one thing that you haven’t experienced that you want to? And once again it does not have to be music related.

C: I do want to try skydiving one day. I have done it indoors but I feel like that’s not the same. I would like to try that out...that one’s super random. It just came to be. That would be fun, I don’t know.

T: Is it the feeling of free-fall that’s interesting to you?

C: I think...maybe not so. I think that sounds kinda scary. I think the first 20 feet would be terrifying and then it would kind of like stabilize. I don’t really know what it would feel like. I think it would just be cool to see the world from that point of view, which most people have never really been able to experience. It would be cool to just travel to some really cool place in the world and also just skydive. Kind of two-in-one package deal.

T: I think there’s a million things I haven’t experienced. I can’t really think of anything right now. I definitely want to travel more and do more shows in other cities, which we were finally able to do this year, which was so sick. It felt like such a leg up and such a monumental step forward in this collective. I want to travel to places I’ve never been before.

F: Uh...that’s a good question. It’s crazy to think about...I’ve never really experienced like truly have my own spot, like I’ve lived on campus for majority of my time and I haven’t lived on my own. I don’t even have my own studio. That would definitely be something I want to work on this year...start building my own space.

H: What’s your guilty pleasure song?

C: That’s also kind of hard because I feel like I have a rotating cast of songs like that depending on how I’m feeling. I did “Only Girl In The World” for karaoke at Arman’s crib just a couple weeks ago. That song is so fire, so maybe that will be one of them. Shoutout Rihanna.

F: There’s a song by Glen Campbell called “Rhinestone Cowboy” and every time I hear it that shit gets stuck in my head. I feel so bad for the people around me because I would just sing that over and over again.

C: One of my aunts used to sing that song around my family because they hated it. It’s one of those known ear worm songs so my aunt used to sing it over and over again, so I can relate to that song.

T: I’m not guilty of shit and that’s why I can never get aux because I Instantly kill the vibe. I think “Gucci Gucci” by Kreayshawn. I think honestly a little while ago if you were to say that people would be like ‘damn, that’s crazy.’ But that song had a huge resurgence. I do love “Down In The DM” by Yo Gotti so much. I think I also like a lot of softcore stuff like Metric, stuff like that from the 2000s that might be a little unexpected. I’m not super guilty about it, but I guess I’m also not so open about it.

H: Yea, I think the term ‘guilty pleasure’ is kind of stupid, but I don’t know. I think it’s interesting to learn what people wouldn’t be expected to hear, you know?

T: It’s a good question, yea, it’s revealing.

H: When it comes to producing music and making music, is there a specific songwriting process that always happens or is it different...how does that usually happen for you guys?

C: I think it varies kind of a lot. There will be nights where, kind of on a whim, we’ll get together with no main real goal. Sometimes it’s just like ‘hey can you lay down this beat on my laptop’ and then I’ll work on the drums, or vise versa. Sometimes there’s already beats to go and we’ll go straight into the writing or recording for it. I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason to our process, just what kind of feels right in the moment. I think we’re pretty good at working off of each other like if there’s a moment where someone is stalling out or running out of ideas someone will tag in and keep the process going.

T: Shoutout Apollo.

C: Arman is really good for that shit too. Like when you’re kind of hung up on something or not really feel what you’re doing, Arman is really good at encouraging people to keep going and capturing certain ideas and running with them. It’s really open, we don’t like to restrict ourselves to one area of the music space while we’re working on it.

T: If you have multiple different ways of creating I think it helps people be more flexible I think.

H: For all of you guys individually, if you were to look back at all the things you’ve done as a group...what is something that you guys are very proud of?

F: The Phage Gang album, the most recent one. It’s crazy looking at it. I feel like it’s gonna keep on getting a lot of love because it’s super clean. It has everybody that I would want on such an important album. I just feel like it all comes together so nicely. I feel like that was a moment where, over the summer, I was just listening to that thing over and over again. I was just like ‘it’s so good! I’m so proud!’ I remember thinking about that a lot. Also, the New York show. That was like huge, a life changing moment where I was like ‘damn, it’s happening!’

C: Yea, I would totally agree with that as well. I think the album was really impactful for a lot of us. I think specifically like the opening track on that album really made everything click in my head. We all had kind of recorded it separately, that was one of the ones where we weren’t in the same room with one idea putting it together. People kind of just sent verses as they were ready and it all really came together. It’s called “PG Cipher” cause everyone had their own little spin on that beat. I was like, oh man it’s really cool with everyone’s different ideas kind of spinning it peoples heads came together and made such a good intro track. I had a lot of friends outside of the music space I’ve known for a while who were like ‘damn, this track in particular really made me be like wow this is cool, new, we haven’t heard something like this.’ So that was super special. The New York show was awesome as well, as Fern said.

T: Someone individual highlights I think is where we get really weird. On some of the stuff we’ve worked on recently for the new Phage Gang album where it has all three of our vocals on it and other people as well. We’re trying to like experiment more and create “unconventional” instrumentals and “unconventional” lyrics and come combinations. Songs like “Sticking” I think is definitely one of the more underrated Phage Gang songs. Cart and Om and I are just trading each bar. There’s three rappers but there’s four bars per phrase. I think it creates a really weird outcome. There’s a song called “Count” off of Awful Hospital that I think just has an extremely bizarre beat. Even though the verses are structured and segmented between people, I think that it’s something that sounds really unique. And I’m really hyped on that.

H: My next question is a question I like to ask everyone. It’s kind of difficult for some people, and it can change, but what would your ‘desert island’ musician be? So, if right now you were dropped off on a desert island and could only listen to one artist, who would it be? It could change, but it’s more of a ‘right now in the moment’ type of thing.

F: If I were on a desert island, I feel like I would go with Daft Punk because, damn they’ve got some bangers. I could honestly just take “Around the World” with me and I would be fine. Just that one song...I would just play it all the time.

T: That’s so funny...”Around the World,” but you’re stuck in one place. That’s like a short story waiting to be written. I would say Gucci Mane, I’ve been listening to him so much recently. If it’s a real in the moment answer, I’ve been listening to that album Chicken Talk on repeat. He also has the deepest catalogue ever. So, there would be a lot to listen to. Wouldn’t get boring, I hope.

C: I would say for me, right now, would be 454. He just put his mixtape from this past year out on all streaming services. So I returned to it and just been listening to it over and over. I used to just run the whole mixtape, front to back, on my commute to work because it’s just about an hour long. Recently I just went back because he dropped again everywhere finally with song names and stuff. I felt like I could pick it apart a little bit more. I love that tape, I’ve been listening to it so much. It has like all his different eras and styles mixed into one, so I can kind of scratch every itch with different sections of that project. That would definitely be my artist for right now.

T: Are there any songs where he like slows the pitch down to regular pitch?

C: Only a few.

T: Oh, really? I kind of miss when he would do regular pitch on some of them, honestly.

C: It’s hard because his voice is naturally so high, even the slightest amount of pitching it up sounds kind of crazy. I don’t know, I’ve been kind of enjoying it. I would say, kind of in general, some of his cuts where it is his normal voice are kind of my favorite. I don’t know, there’s something special about the vocal pitching on his new mixtape. I really liked it.

H: Do you guys have any upcoming releases or events you can or want to talk about?

T: There’s always multiple things in the works, multiple projects in the works, always multiple events in the works. Sadly, with a lot of them, they just don’t work. That’s why you’ve got to be like planning a million things at once, at least for me and us. A lot of stuff just falls through. Hopefully we’ll do a spring concert with a lot of people in the Boston community. An art show in the future for sure. We’re trying to do more of the sound duels. We should definitely run that back. But, unfortunately we have no particular date for anything. Oh, wait, Carter and I are dropping our tape either this month or next month. Music videos, singles + tapes dropping.

C: We just need to mix and master when people aren’t sick and really busy. But we’ll finish it soon, I promise. (author’s note: this interview was done in January, and the tape they’re talking about has indeed been dropped and you should go give it a listen)

H: Are you guys on any streaming platforms? Where can I find your music and where should I direct people to?

C: Most of the Phage Gang stuff is out on pretty much all streaming platforms, I would say SoundCloud is the main destination that we like to release on for now. Then we’ll kind of trickle things on to other streaming, that’s what we kind of prefer. Our big album from this past year is readily available wherever you listen to music.

T: All of our individual accounts are followed by the Phage Gang account on SoundCloud. So, if you go there you can find our individual accounts. I feel like people don’t realize that SoundCloud is where we’re like pushing our stuff. It’s so social, there’s an immediate boom. I feel like that doesn’t really happen on streaming.

H: Wrapping things up, is there anything you guys would like to share that you haven’t been able to yet?

T: The virus is spreading.

F: Biome based Phage Gang album...think about it. Coming soon.

T: Start thinking about modern ecology.