6Twenty

Their name has nothing whatsoever to do with the Ballsbridge area of Dublin. In fact, when they heard they shared their appellation with one of our capital’s more affluent zones, the quartet were appalled. These guitar-slingers hail from the city of Auckland, New Zealand, a region not renowned as a hotbed of raucous rock ‘n’ roll activity. Until now.

From the opening strains of the classic ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Motherfucker’, the lines are drawn in stone. 4/4, in yer face, balls to the wall punk/rock: if a track lasts much longer than three and a half minutes it is considered Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd territory and is generally ditched.

The songs themselves are about as memorable as your average Wimbledon FC goal (ie: they’re not). I don’t mean this disrespectfully: it’s just that you’re barely getting used to one manic, thrashing shot of adrenaline-fuelled hysteria when it’s over and there are other equally mental musical manoeuvres already taking its place, whether it’s the cacophonic, tub-thumping ‘Invader Ace’, the taut, insistent ‘Mysterex’ or the here comes the weekend joie de vivre of ‘Exit To The City’.

Forthcoming single ‘Party’ invites you to do exactly what it says on the tin – and who are we to argue? While the thumping bass and clattering guitar of ‘Come On’ ups the ante even more. A cover of Johnny Thunders’ ‘Pirate Love’ slows the tempo slightly, giving you time to get your breath back , before the Velvets-like ‘Running On Empty’ kicks into town with a fistful of guitar and a face-full of attitude.

‘Rebekah’ is about as close as they get to a love song, i.e. not at all (“We got just one night/Come on and let me in”), while ‘Ladies Man’ tries to out-Stone Messrs Jagger, Richards et al, as these Kiwis try to wring some sympathy for their particular devils.

If The Strokes serenaded your soul and The Hives scratched your itch, then The D4 are guaranteed to kick you in the gonads, slap you on the back and then drag you into the moshpit. Close the curtains, crank the volume up and ‘lep’ around your room like you did when you were 14, as The D4 pay homage to the ancient gods of rock, roll and rollicking good fun.