Terrace F. Club, commonly known as “Terrace,” isn’t just an eating club. It’s Princeton’s beating heart of colorful, loud, and beautifully eccentric creative expression.
Furnished with clashing patterned sofas, “Where The Wild Things Are” and galaxy murals, and year-round holiday lights, Terrace is home to the popular Terrace Thursdays and Battle of the Bands, embracing rock, indie, and experimental music for any and all those craving it.
“I can be crazy myself. It doesn’t matter how many people are here. I always feel like dancing,” Isabel Irwin ’27 said.
For several weeks, The Daily Princetonian “rocked on” with bands featured by Terrace, documenting the various colors, sounds, and characters likely to be found on a night out.
Julia Young ’27 and Marcello Troncoso ’27 debuting originals like “I Want You” and “Taking My Time” / BELLE HAMPTON / Terrace Thursdays
Kenzo Salazar / The Daily Princetonian
Belle Hampton, a student group led by Julia Young ’27 (keys, vocals), stands out for their jazzy, upbeat, and piano-driven originals. Cueyoung Lee ’27 (trumpet), Marcello Troncosco ’27 (saxophone), Daniela Vita ’25 (guitar), Garrett McKenzie ’28 (drums), and Kian Petlin ’28 (bass) accompanied Young for the Spring 2025 Battle of the Bands. Belle Hampton, however, isn’t a fixed group, often inviting a different set of talented musicians for every performance.
Instagram: @bellehamptonmusic
Youtube: bellehamptonmusic
Left: Spring Street rocking “Cooler than Me” by Mike Posner / Battle of the Bands
Right: Avery Vaughan ’28 shocking the crowd with “Hysteria” by Muse / EQO / Battle of the Bands
Kenzo Salazar / The Daily Princetonian
Eqo, humbly born out of an exchange of Instagram DMs last summer, has fabulously united five rock-loving friends. Made up of Avery Vaughan ’28 (bass), Zach Goldberg ’28 (drums), Lillian Paterson ’28 (guitar), Kiele Trainor ’28 (guitar), and Eva Nester ’28 (vocals), they perform originals and covers in indie and rock with flashes of shoegaze. All first-year students, their vibrant chemistry promises an exciting future on campus, and possibly beyond.
“We’re in a world full of so much hate. Let’s spread the love,” Patterson said to the ‘Prince.’
Instagram: @eqotheband
Instant Gratification getting ready to “Freak Out the Neighborhood” with some Mac De Marco / Battle of the Bands
Kenzo Salazar / The Daily Princetonian
Instant Gratification (a.k.a. Private School Dropouts, Office Christmas Party, or S&P 500, depending on the night) is exhilarating, fun, and unpredictable. Their secret to great chemistry? “We don’t want to take ourselves too seriously,” says Theo Kim ’27 (vocals and guitar). Made up of Kim, Nick Manetas ’27 (vocals and guitars), Caleb Park ’27 (vocals and bass guitar), and Jayden Easy ’27 (drums), they embrace fishy salmon ties, funky colored glasses, and most importantly, a shared love for indie rock.
Casual Riot / Battle of the Bands
Kenzo Salazar / The Daily Princetonian
Casual Riot unexpectedly formed when the group was asked to play “Bark at the Moon” by Ozzy Osbourne for Princeton University Rock Ensemble (PURE). During an early practice with Nina Weeldreyer ’26 (vocals), Rohan Sykora ’27 (guitar), Callista Chong ’27 (guitar), Duncan Marmash ’27 (bass), and Leah Shefferman ’27 (drums), Weeldreyer recalled thinking, “Oh crap. Like, we need to start a band with the five of us.” Their party-ready pop-rock style with hints of Y2K nostalgia is electrifying, skin-tingling, and levitating.
FORAGER / Terrace Thursdays
Kenzo Salazar / The Daily Princetonian
Forager, a “kaleidoscopic pop,” multi-genre group humbly born out of a college music practice room at Yale and a need for a creative outlet during the pandemic, has amassed over 7.5k monthly listeners on Spotify. In celebration of almost four years of music-making, they have just finished up their West Coast and New York tour. Shyamala Ramakrishna, the lead vocalist of the group, recounted how their first jam session miraculously turned into a song, marking “the start of something really creatively, mutually fulfilling.”
Instagram: @forager.music
Left: BOYS GO TO JUPITER / Terrace Thursdays
Right: Dean Miller ’28 shredding a 10-minute solo on “Thatch” by Goose / SAND / Battle of the Bands
Kenzo Salazar / The Daily Princetonian
Sand, a psychedelic ambient rock student group, sees music as a way of “loosening” and “unifying into something that’s collective and transcends,” Micah Baker ’28 (vocals and piano) said. Made up of Baker, Lucien Chidester ’28 (bass), Dean Miller ’28 (guitar), and Daniel Christie ’28 (drums), the college-town jam band spirit runs through every strum of the guitar and hit of the drum. They embrace change, with Miller speaking to the possibility of Sand “evolving from something beyond just Sand” as they “incorporate new members or members change.”
Kenzo Salazar is a staff photographer for the ’Prince.’
Irene Kim is a contributing writer for The Prospect and a News contributor for the ’Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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