Roller Derby and Metal Mix to Create Philly’s Heavy Metal Hookers

What's more metallic than a heavy metal roller derby team? Not much. "Heavy Metal Hookers started out as all metalheads. It's pretty awesome," roller derby queen Robin Drugstores told Noisecreep.

The Hookers are a part of the Philly Roller Girls league, and they formed when a few of the Hookers were working at the now defunct Rock 'n' Roll Plus record store on the city's famed, tourist-y South Street. "Ivana Rock and Foxy Cotton were working there and came up with theme. And at first, there was a bit of opposition from the league, as far as being named 'Hookers' whose motto is to 'Skate for Satan!' They were worried about some of the more religious people in the league being offended, but it took off," Drugstores said.

Other members of the Hookers with chuckle-inducing, pun-heavy names include the Cycrone, Wendy Whiplash and Val Halla. Drugstores, however, joined the HMH during their first season and admitted that aligning herself with the Hookers was an easy choice for her. "With their theme and the name, there was no way in hell I could be on any other team but the Hookers," she said. "At that time, they were the worst team. The Hookers had good players, but there were some party girls who were not wholly dedicated to giving up their life for roller derby, which is what we all do."

Drugstores also said that had she been involved with the Hookers before they designed their image and attire, the costumes would have turned out a wee bit different. "The girls who came up with the concept are younger and went with black and green zebra stripe bottoms," Drugstores said. "That's too 'hair band' for me. If it was up to me, we'd be wearing upside down crosses and all black."