Free Rock on Monday: Too Good to Last? : Pop music: First, Club Lingerie tried it. Then the Whisky and Hell’s Gate. With all the competition, they might self-destruct.

It’s an L.A. anomaly that the best nights to venture into clubland have never been Friday or Saturday, the reigning philosophy among scenesters being that weekends in Hollywood are for amateurs.

To be sure, Mondays of late have been the night not to miss. And for good reason. That’s when three venues--Club Lingerie, the Whisky and Hell’s Gate--each let you sample up to a half dozen of the city’s most promising alternative acts. Bonus: the shows are free.

Now, while the rest of the world is either watching football or cursing Monday’s name before tucking in by 10 p.m., alternative music fans are just gearing up for an eventful night out.

Tonight, for example, you can see the Dead Pets and Loungefly at Club Lingerie or Dashboard Prophets and Michael Petak at the Whisky. Looking ahead, Hell’s Gate, whose free-admission policy is only offered the second and fourth Mondays of the month, is showcasing the Jigsaw Seen and Ultraviolet Eye on Sept. 26.

If it sounds too good to be true, it may be. The slice of slacker heaven may be a victim of its own success.

The free showcase concept was popularized in recent years at Club Lingerie, where the theme night was titled Gashouse. The Whisky and Hell’s Gate joined the action in June--complete with their own theme names: Bianca’s Hole and Bubblegum Crisis respectively.

Some observers fear that all this competition may self-destruct.

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery, but there are only so many (alternative clubgoers), and if you cut that up, there isn’t going to be any scene,” says Mary Nixon, the 33-year-old promoter behind the Lingerie’s Monday series.

Kim Adams, the Whisky’s in-house promoter, disagrees.

“I have to laugh at that,” says Adams. “If L.A. can’t sustain three places then . . . the music scene is dead. And since it’s not dead, I don’t see a problem with it at all. We live in L.A., not Boise, Idaho. People drive out here from Riverside, Orange County, San Bernardino, just to come to the clubs.”

The 24-year-old promoter denies stealing Club Lingerie’s recipe. Adams says the Whisky introduced its Monday night showcase as a way to attract the under-21 crowd that composes much of the fan base for alternative rock music. (The other two clubs have 21-and-over policies.)

“The style of music is changing so fast, which is also changing the audience,” she says. “Kids are out there buying all the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Green Day records. They can come out and see the new bands.”

Johnny Base, one of the promoters at Hell’s Gate--the new moniker for Club Maxx on Yucca Street--says he’s not concerned with what happens at the Whisky and Lingerie. He’s just trying to find something that works. “We just want to get people to take a risk checking out music they might not know,” he says.

But longtime supporters of Club Lingerie worry about the competition. On a recent Monday, there wasn’t the usual line of clubgoers stretching far down Sunset Boulevard.

“Why couldn’t the Whisky have done a free Tuesday or Wednesday?” asks Erin Cook, a regular at Lingerie on Mondays. “While they were still doing pay-to-play, Lingerie was giving us something good for free.”

Complains promoter Nixon: “(The Whisky) is trying to empty my club out every Monday. Adams didn’t go after creating her own night; she just wants the business that I’ve taken four years to build.”

In that time, fans have been able to see, for free, bands such as Tool, 4 Non Blondes and Rage Against the Machine at Club Lingerie. Among current faves who play the club: Weezer (which just released an album on Geffen Records), the Dashboard Prophets, 1,000 Mona Lisas, Loungefly and Careless.

Like many other Club Lingerie regulars, the popular Dashboard Prophets say they were hesitant when first approached to play Mondays at the Whisky. Despite a sense of loyalty to Club Lingerie, they finally agreed to tonight’s gig.

“(Club Lingerie) wasn’t popular just ‘cause it was free,” says Chris Dye, the Prophets’ lead singer and guitarist. “Mary booked bands from a certain scene and helped to actually create the scene.

“For a long time, we refused and refused to play the Whisky on Mondays. They had nothing to do with (building) the scene and everybody knows that.”

Still, the opportunity to play an all-ages show, coupled with the Whisky’s excellent sound system, proved to be too enticing for the group.

The news disappointed Nixon.

“In another six months, all the rooms are going to be empty,” she warns. “They don’t understand that something is special only if there’s one of it.”

Counters the Whisky’s Adams: “I didn’t start doing this by saying, ‘I’m going to put (Nixon) out of business.’ If there’s a good band I want to see, I’ll go there too.”

* Club Lingerie, 6507 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, 9 p.m. , over 21 (213) 466-8557 . Hell’s Gate, 6423 Yucca St., Hollywood, 9:30 p.m. , over 21 (213) 463-9661. The Whisky, 8901 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. , all ages (310) 652-4202 .