New Zealand rockers the D4 have stadium-sized ambition. Lead guitarist Dion stands on an amp playing piercing notes with his eyes closed in concentration, his body rigid with intensity while his fingers sweep across the frets. He's not concerned with being the next big colonial thing; he's too busy being Brian May.

Not a band to even attempt to hide their influences, the D4 have an overwhelming affection for the records that got them here. The unrelenting buzz of punk, the chugging majesty of metal and the good-time frolics of old-time rock'n'roll are sewn together with passionate zest on their debut album 6Twenty. Their simple songs revolve around the ordinary hedonism of getting girls, rampaging through a Saturday night and escaping the drudgery of a job.

But when they clamber on stage they pull out almost every trick in the rock handbook. Sharing vocals, microphones and an adolescent dream, Dion and rhythm guitarist Jimmy Christmas are the sweaty, gurning faces of the band. Though Christmas handles most of the singing - in a voice that resembles a ragged Gaz Coombes - he leans on Dion, both physically and musically. As the furious speed of Running on Empty takes hold, Christmas stands aside to allow Dion to stride to the front of the stage and strike his guitar, windmill style.

Dion dashes over to Christmas, their heads pressed together, voices joined in a desperate plea for fun before Ladies Man utilises the northern soul stomp of Tainted Love and twists it into depravity. Dion's voice rises from a bitter whine to a roaring yell on psychotic love song Heartbreaker, but the guitarist is much happier repeatedly throwing himself into the crowd, never letting the fact he ends up on the floor spoil his AC/DC antics. Christmas looks on in awe. "When I was younger I wanted to be in a band and I thought it might be a bit like this," he says. "And of course, it is."

· At the Cathouse, Glasgow (0141-248 6606) tonight.