Women In Sports splices modern heaviness into their ’90s rock DNA with new single ‘Hellbent’
“We started the band as a group of people doing something we had never done before,” Katie Masterson, vocalist and guitarist of Philly’s Women In Sports, said. Listen to “Hellbent” right here.
Philly alt-rockers Women In Sports just released their new single “Hellbent” and despite their relative nascence in the scene, they’re already redefining the band by tapping into a weightier sound, both sonically and lyrically.
Comprising Katie Masterson of You’re Laughing on vocals and guitar, Rebecca Emont of Poor Martha on guitar, Tyler Masterson also of Poor Martha on drums, and Katie Miller of Kate Dressed up on bass, the four piece outfit is celebrating the release of “Hellbent” with a gig Saturday at Love City Manayunk. They’re sharing the bill with Sails Ahead and Our Fair City.
”‘Hellbent’ is a song that Rebecca, Tyler, and I collaborated on writing, and it’s supposed to capture the pain of being in conflict with yourself and never feeling like enough even in your own skin,” Katie Masterson said. “I think so many of us can relate to that feeling, and we tried to capture that both sonically and within the lyrics.”
Women In Sports has a small catalog available online. In addition to “Hellbent,” there’s “Teeth” and “Thirteen,” both of which came out this year, and two live session recordings of “Armor” and “Sunlight” from 2025.
”We really wanted ‘Hellbent’ to reintroduce Women In Sports as a heavier project that deals with heavier topics, and we feel like this really does that,” she said.
The band are self-described ’90s kids who draw heavily from that era’s alternative rock scene. Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, Alanis Morissette, among key influences. But they’re not solely rooted in the ’90s.
Budding heavy metal juggernauts Die Spitz, Michigan shoegaze act Greet Death, Norwegian stoner rock band Slomosa, hardcore punk five piece Gouge Away, and Philly’s own Mannequin Pussy are heavier, more modern bands that Women In Sports take some inspiration from. Another contemporary influence is indie rockers Momma.
”We all listen to a lot of heavier music now, and that’s where we want to head for the future of the band,” she said.
And with “Hellbent,” it’s clear Women In Sports has those influences in their DNA, both sonically and lyrically.
”Sometimes when you are deeply insecure, it’s harder for you to connect with others or for people to connect with you, and that can be really isolating,” she said. “We wanted to really explore that in the song.”
The band got together in 2024 after Katie Masterson and Emont—who is married to Katie Masterson’s brother Tyler Masterson—started doing some acoustic singer-songwriter music. In doing so, they decided to flesh out their ideas into full-band songs. And then they took things in a slightly different direction.
”We started the band as a group of people doing something we had never done before,” she said. “Tyler is not a drummer; he is guitarist and bassist primarily. Rebecca has been playing guitar her whole life but has never really been a lead guitarist. Katie Miller, our bassist, is a guitarist primarily and she has her own very successful project.”
The result has led Women In Sports to “write some cool music because we do just all come from such vastly different instrumentation backgrounds and genres that we’re interested in.”
In the past year, the Masterson siblings and Emont started writing collaboratively, and that has had a major impact in developing their sound.
“The bands we were all a part of previously sound nothing like this band,” she said. “So I think it’s definitely influenced us in a good way.”
With new music on the mind, Women In Sports is getting ready to lay down some more studio tracks for an EP in 2027. They’re heading to Gradwell House Recording in December to record their next single with Matt Weber, and in March they’ll return to the studio to work on their debut EP.
