Paul Hastey likes to gamble—matter of fact, he is heading out to Las Vegas this August to play some blackjack. But the Lava Lounge manager is not willing to make a call on who will win the first round of Your Music Magazine’s Monterey Rock Wars this Friday night.

Hastey believes both the Salinas hardcore punk band Hate for State and the reggae punk hybrid 3 Hour Shower both have their strengths. He also admits that he knows nothing about the other band on the bill, Mulligan. (The Weekly used its investigative reporting skills to uncover that Mulligan, which has never performed before in the Lava Lounge, is a Gilroy-based alternative reggae and punk rock band featuring Patrick Findley of the local pop punk group The Adorkables.)

Hastey contends 3 Hour Shower has something special that helps differentiate them from other local acts that regularly play the Lava Lounge. “A lot of girls like them,” he says. “They appeal to more than just the guys who get drunk and thrash people.”

But Hastey, vocalist of punk metal outfit Plaster, says Hate for State has been around for a long time and knows how to promote their shows. Hate for State would seem to have the edge, but they also hamstring their own chances at a Rock Wars win. “Their whole campaign is ‘don’t vote for us,’ ” Hastey says. “It’s because they are punk rockers.”

THE MONTEREY ROCK WARS start at 9pm Friday, July 6, at the Lava Lounge, in Club Octane, at 321 Alvarado St., Monterey. $6. 646-9244. The Rock Wars continue every Friday until Sept. 7. >