JULIA KAGANSKIY: What’s up with the name? Are you guys like die-hard fans of Wheel of Fortune?
EVAN PHARMAKIS: We really wanted something simple, and we decided to have it be one word, because you’ve got all these bands out here now with too many words. Vanna is just such a pretty name, we love it. We love Wheel of Fortune too. Vanna White is one hot lady. I don’t know if this had anything to do with it, but I’m a fan of Vanna White.

JK: I wonder if she’s a fan of you.
EP: I was wondering that too when I was watching Wheel of Fortune the other day.

JK: Everything’s been happening so fast for you guys.
EP: Well, it makes me feel a few different ways. Ever since I can remember I’ve always wanted to be in a successful band. I’ve been writing music for a long time. We’ve all just been in so many bands writing, playing shows. Regardless of which band it was, we’ve always been putting our all into it. This band, I think it just clicked right off the bat. It was really luck that we got picked up by Epitaph, we were in the right place at the right time. I’m sure there’s tons of bands out there that do what we do better [and] that aren’t discovered, so in that respect, I’d say it’s luck. There’s so many bands out there that have been around longer than us in Boston that bust their asses. We do get a little bit of jealousy and weird vibes from some bands and we catch a lot of flack. And you know, we take the good with the bad and try to stay positive, and let people know that we love what we do and we put our all into it and we really appreciate it and really love this chance that we’ve been given.

JK: Where the hell did you guys come from?
EP: Nick and I had both been writing and playing in bands since we were about 14 years old. We met through a mutual friend and instantly hit it off and started writing in the dorms of MassArt. The next year we ended up becoming close and got an apartment together and started writing what would become Vanna material. We originally did all the screaming and singing ourselves. It was just the three of us – Shawn, Nick, and myself. Eventually, we wanted to start playing live shows and a drum machine is a little impractical to do such things, so we started hunting for a drummer. We came across this guy, Brandon Davis, who was actually a guitar player for another Boston band called Therefore I Am. He met up with us and practiced with us, and loved it, and we loved him, so that instantly worked out.

JK: So what exactly happened with your first singer, Joe Bragel?
EP: Once we got picked up by Epitaph it seemed like he lost his drive to try his hardest and put the most that he could into it. His screaming just started to go downhill. It just didn’t seem to us that this was something he deserved, to just get handed a free ride. Right before we left to start recording our EP, we were in the studio with him and our producer was even like, “This really isn’t good for you guys. Everything is so good, everything is so solid, he’s the only issue you have.” And we were already having problems with him so we just sat down and talked it out and were like, “You know, he’s definitely not going to work out for us. This isn’t going to cut it.” Chris here was going to be the original singer before Joe even started screaming for us, but he lived in Texas at the time.