Medejin: Different Paths Leading To The Same Journey
Photos provided by Medejin
By RayJaun Stelly
Based out of Washington, the music band Medejin consists of four members, Jenn Taranto who does the groups’ vocals, plays the guitar and keyboard, Rebecca Gutterman who also plays guitar, Ben Dorcy their newest bass player, and Matthew Cooks on the drums, percussion, and backing vocals.
Moving to Seattle, Washington back in 2014, New York native Jenn Taranto had been playing music in Boston for nine years before making her move to the Pacific Northwest. Taking on the singer and songwriter aspect of the art and still playing the guitar, Taranto ultimately would step away from music for sometime and teach ballet with the intention of never doing it again.
”That didn’t last, I moved to Seattle in 2014 and it took me a while to get adjusted, music kind of really wasn’t on my mind at all,” said Taranto. “But within the first year that I moved here I wanted to get back into music again, and I joined this 80’s cover band which is how I met Matthew, our drummer.”
“I met Rebecca off of Craigslist, Ben our newest member and bass player and the band he was a part of, Medejin are huge fans of, we’re very stoked to have him on board playing for Medejin,” Taranto continued.
Although he is the newest member to Medejin, Ben Dorcy grew up in Port Angeles, he’s been in music since the third grade when he played the cello, from there he evolved throughout the musical programs that were offered. With the majority of his classes in high school being band classes, but once he graduated and started working, Dorcy had stopped doing music during that transition.
But his skill set and ability to play guitar never faded and after five years off, he was back playing in the midst of that Dorcy learned how to play bass with a mindset of there being more opportunities, from that moment until present day Ben has been playing bass for 10 years and counting.
Dorcy expressed, “I care more about the music than the instruments, I don’t think Medejin is looking for another guitar or bass player, I’d rather be a part of something I love rather than care about what instrument I am playing.”
Playing guitar for Medejin, Rebecca Gutterman, comes from a musical background with her mother being a piano teacher; she grew up playing instruments and reading music throughout her childhood. From her childhood, she took her talents onto the college level.
In college, Gutterman played the guitar and received her Indie Rock education for DJing at the college radio station. Taking her experience in music from her childhood to college, she expanded her portfolio by playing the drums and guitar for bands on and off, which ultimately led her to Medejin.
“I met Jenn in 2016, she was working with Matthew, and we played our first show as a trio just a few weeks later at Hotel Albatross,” said Gutterman. “We added Ramsey and Ben, released an EP and few singles, then we were thrilled to see our first album ‘The Garden’ which made the best of 2023 lists at KEXP and The Seattle Times.”
Essentially being a solo artist to start out her career, Gutterman has enjoyed being a member of a group, “I love playing music as part of a group, developing ideas and techniques I would never come up with on my own, pushes me to continue working and growing.”
Medejin has seen success with their music, coming in ranked fifth on the stations Top 10 the week of its’ release, 58th on Top 90.3 albums of 2023, and finding themselves in DJ’s Top 10 releases of the year.
In addition to that live in-studio performances at KEXP’s autoasis with Eva Walker, being included in the lineup for Seattle’s Belltown Bloom, received invitation to perform at the Capitol Hill Block Party, also collaborating with EMA and Tomo Nakayama.
Medejin can be seen live again on August 23 when performing at Den Fest, follow the band on Instagram @Medejinmusic for updates.
