Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins joins surfers on the night Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins (right) with Dave Rastovich (centre) | © Dawe/TransparentSea

Members of two of the world's biggest rock bands have lent their support to an environmental campaign being led by a group of top surfers. 

Helmed by Australian surf pro Dave Rastovich, TransparentSea in California is a month-long environmental project that runs until October 25. The aim of it is to raise awareness of coastal marine issues – and to do that Rastovich and a group of surfers and activists are paddling kayaks from Gaviota to San Diego.

They've been stopping off along the way to engage with local communities and to throw a series of parties. It was the turn of Malibu at the weekend.

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Rastovich and the gang were joined at this lastest bash – a Malibu awareness night – by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins (main photo above) and Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo. Various other musicians and surfers have also been contributing to the campaign's Song of the Day

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Surf scenesters and self-styled free soul collective Band of Frequencies turned up to play. And Denny Aaberg, who helped write legendary surf film Big Wednesday, was also at the party. 

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Australian actress Isabel Lucas (Transformers, The Pacific) and her singer-songwriter boyfriend Angus Stone joined surfer Catherine Clark at the party to hear about the four aims of TransparentSea: to raise awareness about the Preservation of the Gaviota Coast and ship-strikes on blue whales in the Santa Barbara Channel; debate surrounding the Malibu Lagoon and work of the Marine Mammal Care Centre; the Ocean Institute Education Program at Dana Point; and Acoustic Pollution Issues in San Diego.

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During the evening, Rastovich explained the reasons for his intrepid voyage:

'It's designed to incorporate an element of adventure while experiencing the realities of this coastline by being at sea every day – the beauty and also some of the tragedies that occur as a result of coastal issues here. Our starting point on the Gaviota Coast is just one example: it's part of the last remaining 20 miles of undeveloped coastline in Southern California and that is both beautiful, yet sad and tragic too.'

The maiden TransparentSea journey was a tough voyage along the coast of Australia in 2009 and the Californian coast has its own challenges. Said Rastovich: 'In recent days we’ve moved through super dense areas of the LA region, going past one of the most heavily populated areas of America, and we spent a night and a day at sea. We couldn’t see a damn thing because we were stuck in fog. We were at sea for 17 hours, and for the bulk of that we had no idea where we were, with only compasses to guide us.' 

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