Pounding Surf

Ventura drummer Jeff Atkinson has found a place to practice where he isn’t likely to disturb the neighbors.

Every Saturday afternoon, the 39-year-old musician drives about 20 miles south on Pacific Coast Highway to just north of Deer Creek Road, rolls out the carpet and assembles his 10-piece set of Pearl drums.

He arrives at his favorite roadside turnout--barely big enough for anyone else--about 11 a.m. and for the next six hours pounds out riff after riff on the skins.

Like a giant acoustic shell on a grand stage, the western hillsides of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area send the rhythms sailing far and wide. To Atkinson’s left are the beach homes near Neptune’s Net restaurant; Mugu Rock is to his right in the distance. Below, the jagged rocks give way to foamy surf and straight ahead lies the beautiful blue expanse of the ocean.

If there is a drawback, it’s the occasional gust of wind that blows over one of Atkinson’s cymbals. A minor inconvenience, he said.

“I just love coming out here and playing, watching the pelicans hunt, the dolphins go by,” he said. “I haven’t seen any whales yet.”

Atkinson, an electrician by day, has played drums on and off for 30 years, most recently with a local band called Brain Fog. He is also a lifelong surfer who has always had a spiritual attraction to the ocean.

But coming to this spot was born of a more practical reason--the band broke up and he lost his rehearsal space.

Rather than set up at another inside location, Atkinson headed outdoors.

“I just love pounding on the tubs and said, ‘Hey, there’s just got to be another way.’ ”

He tried a concrete slab at Oil Piers, a popular surfing spot on the Rincon, north of Ventura. “I actually get a lot more accomplished there, because there’s not always people stopping.”

Then one day he headed south to Deer Creek Road to a bluff that provided a beautiful view of the Pacific below. That session was short-lived, ending when a state park ranger told Atkinson he was on private property. Then he found a spot on Pacific Coast Highway about half a mile north.

For the past six months, he has been happy attempting to perfect his classic rock and heavy metal stylings, influenced by his favorite rock drummer, the late John Bonham of Led Zeppelin fame.

“It’s just inspirational,” he said, recalling the first time he set up his drums at this scenic locale. “Everybody just drives by and honks and takes pictures. It just blew me away.”

The location inspires more than music. Atkinson said companionship may be in the works with a woman named Gretchen, who lives nearby.

“She came by one day and told me, ‘Me and my son have seen you play here every week.’ Her son, Kyle, is into drums so I told her I’d help him out,” Atkinson said.

Sometimes he doesn’t even realize he is being watched. “I’ll be just into a groove and I’ll turn around and there will be 20 people.”

Other times, the crowds are more obvious.

“Some of them will stand in front of the set for a picture,” he said.

Musicians have also stopped, listened for a while and then asked whether Atkinson is interested in playing in their band. “I don’t feel I’m quite ready,” he said, saying he wants another six months of solo rehearsals.

In the end, Atkinson isn’t seeking stardom; rather, he would like to better himself as a musician. Playing with a professional band three nights a week would make him happy, as would being able to pass along his talent to young drummers.

“That’s my dream, to own a little shop and teach lessons. I know what it’s like for a teacher to make you learn how to read [music],” he said. “It is really important to know how to read, but when you’re young you really just want to pound.”

Atkinson had a hard time reading music as a child. “Eventually when I did learn how to read, it really paid off,” he said.

Until then, he will gig here and there. And whenever the sun is shining, Jeff Atkinson said, he will haul his drums to this most inspirational of rehearsal halls.

“Playing has always been spiritual to me, but it is more so when I’m here in God’s country.”