The Art of Hot Rods and Pin-Ups

D.A. Sabasstion tells us what it means to, “Go Kustom”
by Tajuan LaBee


D.A. Sebasstion loves playing the bass so much that you can see it in his name. “That’s why I put it in there like that,” he says. “I changed my name legally to put the word ‘bass’ in there.”

Sebasstion is an independent media entrepreneur. He started a record label (Go-Kustom Records) that released albums his band recorded (Kill Switch…Klick), has a television show (Go-Kustom TV), and is in the middle of production for his second feature length film (Rat Rad Rockers), produced by his own film company (Go-Kustom Films).

More than he loves music and media, however, D.A. loves cars, and it was his love of cars that brought him into the hot rod latent realm of Kustom Kulture. “It’s a real artistic scene,” Sebasstion admits, “but it has a real 50s, late 50s, early 60s kind of a slant.”

D.A. defines Kustom Kulture as, “a loose terminology for pin-ups. It includes pin-up models, burlesque models, hot rods, custom cars…..A lot of rockabilly, pyschobilly music, but also some blues stuff. A lot of pin strip artist are involved, and a lot of older style art like, Rat Fink kind of art styles, and kind of late 50s, early 60s art style. It’s kind of all put together loosely by the term ‘Kustom Kulture’.”

The most common congregation place for members of Kustom Kulture is the car show. D.A. explains, “when you go to a car show, if it’s like, an old rat rod, Kustom Kulture style car show, you’ll see pin-up models walking around in front of a lot of these old hot rods. They’ll be trying to look like Bettie Page or something.”

A few years ago, D.A. had a public access television show called, Go-Kustom TV. “That’s where I really got into seeing what was going on within the whole Kustom Kulture car show culture crowd, and I really liked what I saw,” he recalls. “Some of these guys build cars out of junk, but it looks bad ass when they’re done…..it’s like drivable art work, and to me that was just like, ‘wow this is cool.’”

D.A. was happy to find that Kustom Kulture allowed the ‘gearhead’ and the artist in him to merge and find support in a like minded community. “It’s like they’re taking their artistic side and putting it on these cars, but they’re making them look kind of industrial almost, and that’s kind of what I like about a lot of the traditional hotrods.”

Kustom Kulture is not strictly about hot rods and pin-ups. “A lot of guys who also are into tattoos and stuff like that will also have a chopper or a hot rod,” Sabasstion says. “So they’ll do stuff centered around their tattoo shop as well…..You go to certain tattoo shops, you’ll meet guys who have Kustom Kulture stuff, cars and stuff.”

Magazines also play an important part in the culture. “There’s a couple magazines, Car Kulture Deluxe, and Ol’ Skool Rodz. They both really highlight Kustom Kulture and what it’s all about,” Sebasstion points out.

There have been plenty of films and television shows done about Kustom Kulture or ‘greasers,’ as they have also been called. Films like; Hotrods to Hell, Dragstrip Riot, Dragstrip Girl, and even the famous James Dean film, Rebel Without a Cause, fit into the category of Kustom Kulture.

Not too long ago D.A. added a new film to that collection and explains, “my movie, Hot Rod Girls Save the World, is kind of paying homage to that…..I felt like there hadn’t been a ‘real’ hot rod movie made in probably 40 years.”

Sebasstion was able to tap into the network he created for himself putting together Go-Kustom TV for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. He notes, “the hostess of Go-Kustom TV is actually one of the stars of Hot Rod Girls Save The World.”

The television show did more than provide cast members for the film; it also provided authenticity. D.A. says, “because I had met all these people who have hot rods and stuff we were able to get the hot rods in the movie. My screenplay kind of was written around that whole Kustom Kulture style because that’s what I was really getting exposed to, and what I really wanted to do a film about.”

With it’s mixture of aliens, zombies and hot rods, D.A. compares it to a Jim Jarmusch or David Lynch film. It tries to stay true to the style of the late 50s, and introduced many people to Kustom Kulture for the first time. Recent documentary style shows like The Hot Rod Havoc series, and Road to Bonneville have played a part in introducing Kustom Kulture to the public.

Though Kustom Kulture aficionados are often associated with Southern California and other perpetually warm regions, Sabasstion says, “there is a lot of us up here in Seattle and the Northwest area too.We have the Billetproof, and I heard Ink & Iron are on their way up here.”

A hurdle Northwest Kustom Kulture fans have to face is the Seattle weather. Winter provides little in the way of Kustom car show activity, but D.A. explains that in the springtime, there is a cocoon-like emergence of hot rods. “I live up on the north end of Seattle and I see like, tons of cars all of a sudden. There were all of these old Corvettes, and all these old Fords, and stuff. I’m like, ‘Wow! These guys are coming out of their garages like they’ve been sleeping all winter, hibernating.’”

“With the whole hot rod thing you have a real since of tradition, and that is one of the things that attracted me to it overall. Besides the fact that the car is the central piece of the whole scene– and I’m making films about that.”