Sitting Tall in the Saddle : * The Four Horsemen, who will perform Friday night in Westminster, aren’t a pretty sight, but they rock with conviction.

The Sunset Strip is lousy with pretty rock bands--most of them pretty lousy. So what a relative pleasure to see the Four Horsemen at the Whisky on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles-based but multinational group is the antithesis of, if not the antidote for, the standard Strip bands: Neither the Four Horsemen nor its rock is particularly pretty. Apparently the quintet can’t count either, unless the numerical name refers to the straight 4/4 rock ‘n’ roll beat that is its metrical metier.

The Horsemen, who also play Friday at the Marquee in Westminster, are part of producer Rick Rubin’s stable of ‘70s-vintage boogie-rockers, and--virtually by definition--not the least bit original or innovative. It’s the kind of band that has a thoroughly tattooed drummer named Dimwit and a bassist-songwriter known only as Haggis. And as far as lyrical content, well, suffice to say that Tuesday’s set started with a song titled “Let It Rock” and ended with “Rockin’ Is Ma’ Business.”

The effect was a bit like being stuck between a bill of AC/DC and Humble Pie, though singer Frank Starr didn’t employ the Bon Scott/Steve Marriott banshee wail that he uses on about half of the band’s recent “Nobody Said It Was Easy” album.

But 75% of the riffs could have been written by AC/DC’s Angus Young in his sleep, and rockified versions of two American soul classics (the Temptations’ “I Can’t Get Next to You” and an encore of the Soul Brothers Six-via-Grand Funk hit “Some Kind of Wonderful”) were pure ‘Umbles.

For variety, the Horsemen threw in a few touches of ‘70s Southern rock mixed with post-punk rock a la Social Distortion, something like a heavier Marshall Tucker Band. The only full acknowledgment that this is the ‘90s was that Starr swigged from a bottle of Evian instead of Jim Beam.

The black-gloved Starr--a reputed tough guy who reportedly has spent time in the pokey for various unsavory activities--is a natural (and, actually, not bad-looking) front man. Although heavily into twirling his microphone stand, Scott was virtually uncommunicative with the audience outside of the songs. Otherwise the band is not really much too look at: drummer Ken (Dimwit) Montgomery pounded away while lead guitarist Dave Lizmi soloed, an occasional cockeyed grin about his only expression.

At least the group seems to come by its style naturally and presents it with honest conviction, and as such the music qualifies as something of a guilty pleasure. If the band could come up with just one or two original twists to its four-square approach, it could even be taken guilt-free.

* The Four Horsemen play Friday at 8 p.m. at the Marquee, 7000 Garden Grove Blvd., Westminster. Tickets: $10. Information: (714) 891-1181.