Matt Palka has traveled all across the country in his
1970 VW Bus but he hasn't forgotten from where he
came. A singer-songwriter and the author of a novel
(Moment in the Sun), Palka's easygoing lifestyle is all at
once infectious and inspiring. Armed with his voice,
guitar and words, Palka has embarked on a continuous
journey that recalls Kerouac in its spirit. Currently at
work on a feature film titled VW Bus Tour and playing
shows across the U.S., Matt Palka reminds us that the
road will always yield stories and characters that
deserve to be written about.

What first compelled you to set out across the country on a never-ending tour in a VW bus?
First off, everything I do now is informed by a journey that has affected my life greatly. I'm referring to my
post-graduate move from Ohio to California on my bicycle. It was such an important journey and symbol for
my life. It was a way to test the things I was supposed to be learning in life and also through education. It has
been a trial by fire existence for me. One can prepare, discuss, and philosophize themselves around the actual
doing. It's the safe way that paves the road to complacency. Like the bike trip, the VW bus tour is a way for
me to really feel alive and find out what it really means to be alive. And man, who doesn't want adventure in
their life?

You said, "Long ago, I decided I was done being practical." Why is this?
There are enough people being practical. The world can get along without my participation. I have no interest
and find no comfort in making a living, getting by. The practical lifestyle seems to nurture those things.
There's something much more magical and spiritual calling me.

From where does your music come?
I have no formal training, so I really don't know what I'm doing on the guitar besides the most basic chord
structures. I'm self-taught in everything I do. I've never played along with the radio. That's freeing in many
ways. I'll just hear something in my head and try to get that sound on the guitar. It leads for lots of
experimentation. Other times, had I the musical theory knowledge it'd probably save me a lot of time. Overall
I think it leads to a unique and interesting sound.

In terms of your music, what is your personal creative process?
Sometimes I'll have a specific theme or story in my head and I'll find the lyrics and melody by just singing. In
the case of "Frayed Blue Jeans" the story is directly related to a girl from my novel. I was at the bar
celebrating college graduation with some friends. I spotted a girl dressed in frayed blue jeans and a white tank
top making selections at the jukebox. When I saw her, something connected. Kinda hit me on a gut level.
Well, she slipped away before I ever got to talk to her. It was years before I ever wrote her song. There's a lot
of snapshots of moments in life that I take with me. Some evolve into songs. Some songs have quite a few
snapshots from the years wrapped in one. Frayed blue jeans is one of those. It also relates to the rough around
the edges character of a life well lived. Then with all this multimedia at our disposal, I took that theme a step
further and created a music video where the theme evolves even more.

You always seem enthusiastic about
(if not inspired by) each and every
one of your live performances. Every
one of them seems vitally important
to you. Is this a fair assessment?
I figure in life we've got one shot to get
it right. Why waste any moment. Use
every chance you've been given. Even
with the smallest crowd, like a
Wednesday night show I played in
Boise, Idaho, there's a chance to
connect, to share this human
experience. There was a little over a
dozen people in the crowd that night.
Two of the people happened to be a
couple visiting all the way from France.
They bought a CD to take back with
them. Who knows how many people I'll
get to share my music with from just
that one experience. Why should the
size of a crowd affect the quality of one
persons experience. I should be so lucky
that someone chooses to spend their
time listening to me.

How close does Moment in the Sun, your novel, hew to your own life?
Moment in the Sun could be closely related to The Sun Also Rises or On the Road. Both Hemingway and Kerouac
wrote about their own life for those novels and changed the character names around. Just about everything
happened to me the way I remember it in my novel. Though I kept a small journal for the first two weeks of
the trip, the story is based on my memory of that time.

Can you describe the process of writing Moment in the Sun? Did you have a lot of it mapped out in
your head, or did it come to you as you wrote it?
My education was in the theater. I didn't realize it at the time, but I learned to write by how I would break
down a script, character dialogue, dramatic arch, conflict and all the rest. While living on a friend's basement
apartment floor in Queens, I wrote the story as a screenplay. I had some friends read it. Someone joked when
I handed them the large mess of papers that it looked like more of a book. I thought, well, that's an idea.

Transitioning the screenplay to a novel was an entirely different beast. First, I fleshed out the beginning few
chapters that brought me up to the actually bike trip. I pinned my U.S. map on the wall, which was the map I
had actually traced out the bike route prior to leaving. That map served as an outline. I had the towns, a few
journal entries and memory to guide me. I built my character dialogue off what I already had in the screenplay.

You're a paragon for DIY creativity, releasing your book, accompanying soundtrack and album
through your website. Does doing things independently appeal to you, or are you hoping to find a
label that will release your future work?
The independency of my existence has been my success. It has allowed me to evolve so quickly and to
accomplish all these creative endeavors without any roadblocks or compromise. I would be open to working
with a label that sees things the same way, would nurture the integrity of the work. Ultimately, I would like to
find someone with the infrastructure to help get the message out and free me to focus on the work. They'd
have to get behind what I already have going, not try to fit me to their mold. A-ways down the road, I hope to
be in the position to sign other DIY-style writers and bands to my Moniker Press label.

What keeps you motivated to continue your journeys?
I'll always be addicted to new experiences involving adventure, traveling and meeting new people. But what
really excites me is seeing someone inspired by what I'm doing and in turn take action with their own life. You
hear about enough doom and gloom in the world. What about all the joy? I'm so inspired to spread some of
that joy I've been lucky enough to have in my life. The live shows are one way to spread it. Simply driving
that bus around is another. You should see the smile that that simple act has on others.

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