If you have a pulse and you see Philly’s Wax Jaw play live, you will be fast won over to fandom. The band dishes a revved-up mix of surf punk riffs, new wave grooves, fierce indie rock energy, and a touch of social and political commentary. They have been a force on the live scene for the past two years, whether headlining packed houses at rooms like Johnny Brenda’s or taking the Union Transfer stage opening for Shannon and the Clams.

Next year, Wax Jaw begins its next chapter with an LP on Born Losers Records, and the band — vocalist Shane Morgan, drummer Ian DiBruno, bassist Greg Blanc, and guitarists Sean Vannata and George Fenton — gave us a taste of the record in this week’s Key Studio Session.

The set kicks off with a a fired-up performance their latest single, the trans power anthem “Boy’s Life,” where Morgan unflinchingly delivers riveting lyrics worthy of quoting here at length: “I didn’t survive to make you mad, I didn’t survive to please my dad. / Using me for your evil games, you don’t even call me by my real name. / You say you can’t understand, you don’t know if I’m a woman or man. / Tell me why, why does it matter? I’m living my truth, I’m tired of being an actor. / Never gonna be a liar, fueling rage and fueling fire.”

More playful by comparison is “Be The Man,” an upbeat and captivating dissection of gender norms via romance that comes from Wax Jaw’s debut EP Between The Teeth (released in 2023 on local vinyl label Abandon Everything Records). We also hear two as-yet-unreleased minute-and-a-half long rippers from the forthcoming record, “Night Sweats” and “Beehive,” getting their first recorded performances here.

Watch Wax Jaw’s full Key Studio Sessions performance above, check out photos from the set below. And for more, their run of December tour dates features two stops in Pennsylvania: a kickoff concert at Underground Arts on December 12th with Friend and The Thing, and a Lancaster concert at Village Nightclub on December 13th. Get full dates and ticket information at Wax Jaw’s Linktree, and stay tuned for more from this awesome band in 2025.

Sug Daniels: “Bishop’s Collar” (The Key Studio Sessions)