Princeton’s Student Band Scene Is Thriving in Eating Club Basements

Leah Shefferman ’27 taps her drumsticks together in nervous excitement, the percussion filling the empty Tiger Inn basement that will soon be packed wall-to-wall with students clad in gowns and suits for the club’s formals. Her band, Spring Street, surrounds her, preparing to play a set of ’80s-to-early-2000s rock covers. Rohan Sykora ’27 hums into the mic as the first students start to filter in. With a glance back to Shefferman, he signals that it’s time.

For as long as Princeton students have known how to play instruments, moments like these have played out across campus. But with the advent of DJs and Spotify playlists, what does the student band scene look like today — and where is it going? The answer lies in eating club basements and late-night comedy shows.

Shefferman picked up the drums at age 7 after deciding the violin was “lame.” At Princeton, she found her start in live music through the Princeton University Rock Ensemble (PURE), which has become an incubator for independent student rock bands. “PURE fostered a ton of the bands I’ve been in,” she said. “We get there and we’re like, ‘We like to play music together — we should do that in a group we can call our own.’” Shefferman has been a part of so many bands, she can’t even give a number. Some, like Spring Street, have stuck around. Others form for just one night to secure a highly coveted eating club gig.

From TI formals to Cap semis to Cottage Sunday Fundays, live gigs at the clubs remain extremely popular but reserved mostly for special occasions. Bands have to fight for the few spots available.

That is, except for Terrace.

Otto Trueman ’27 is the music chair at Terrace and the only eating club officer on The Street whose role is dedicated specifically to music. That’s because Terrace hosts the most live music events of any club: five nights out per semester featuring ice cold beer on tap, a “double decker” night with a band downstairs and a DJ upstairs, and the twice-yearly Battle of the Bands, known by many as the club’s most electric night of the semester. “The live music stuff is really where I spend the bulk of my time,” Trueman said. He plans entire semesters at once, lining up student bands, coordinating themes, and occasionally booking professional acts. During Reunions, he fields eight to 10 bands.

While Terrace keeps musicians busy, Princeton’s faculty-run jazz department has spawned student bands as well. Leading the charge is Ryder Walsh ’26, who plays drums for Funhouse, a 10-person ensemble. The group recently submitted a cover to NPR’s Tiny Desk competition, finishing in the top 100 out of 6,000 applicants. Walsh also plays in the house band for All-Nighter, Princeton’s late-night sketch comedy and talk show, which includes student band performances between sketches.

As student bands withstand the digital age, and maybe even grow, those in the scene seem ambitious and optimistic. Funhouse was gunning to open at Lawnparties, the once-a-semester University-sponsored party featuring a big stage and an even bigger artist headliner. “It’s the crème de la crème,” said Walsh. Sykora, lead vocalist of Spring Street, provided a hopeful vision for Princeton to embody the band parties one may see at larger state schools. “It’d be very fun to get to a point where people look at our social scene and say, ‘We have a really good live music scene.’” At Terrace, Trueman said he hopes anyone interested in entering the scene will see his club’s Battle of the Bands as a starting point.

As for Shefferman, she fondly remembers listening to her dad’s stories from his time at Princeton. As the social chair of Cap, David Shefferman ’92 spent much of his time finding the perfect band for a night out. “It seemed like so much fun,” she said. “DJs are fun, but it’s also nice to draw on tradition. It’s worth the investment.” Today’s student bands are continuing to make that case with every gig they perform.