The Cle Elum

The Cle Elum Is A Band. This is a 3 Part Bio.
Part one. -Standard Band Bio Information.
A two piece rock band with wife and husband team, Sarah Sargent Pepper and Ian Lee. Sarah plays drums. Ian sings and plays guitar and other things.
They live in Chattanooga.
The band name The Cle Elum, (pronounced Kleee Ellle Um) is borrowed from the city in eastern Washington where Sarah would go camping with her dad as a kid. The town is named after the Kittitas people native to that area. The term means “swift water” which we feel fits the character of the bands interest in not being defined to any category of music. Music is music.
Their debut album “Its Ok If It Falls Apart” is set for release 7/26/24 on Winston Sounds. THe album was recorded by Mike Hagler at Kingsize Sound Labs in Chicago during 2022 & 2023, when Sarah and Ian were in Chicago on other tours. Many friends helped play on the record.
Their first single “I Am A Robot” was released this past year. It features their friend Matthew Caws of Nada Surf. One of the greatest bands of all time, in the opinion of The Cle Elum.
The band was formed in the wrong order. First, came love, then came a business, then the world shut down, so they wrote songs, and a band was born. Love, Business, Songs, Band. Got it?
Ok.
Part two. Touring
For the past 10 years, the 2 members of The Cle Elum, Sarah and Ian have toured the world with the greatest artists on earth. True story.
In 2014, they bought a tour bus, and started a company to provide tour support services to bands who tour. Their company is called Affordable Tour Solutions.
As the internet has wiped out the economics of the record business, the common knowledge is that the only way bands can make a living is to tour. Sarah and Ian help lots of bands in their business. In the 70’s they would have been called “roadies”
This life means being surrounded by and becoming family with a long list of amazing artists who they have spent upwards of 350 days a year for the past 10 years living with, working with and doing their best to support music.
Music is life.
So, when the world shut down their business, it also shut down their life, and we know it shut down yours too.
As the world has come back from whatever that was, everyone has their story of re-assessing how we were living our life before it happened. The Cle Elum was formed in this vacuum.
With the world shut down, Sarah and Ian decided to write songs together, and it saved their life and gave them hope and purpose.
When the world started up again, they went back to work and when bands had a day off in Chicago, they went in to the studio and started recording. 2, songs here, 3 songs a few months later.
As this went along, it became obvious to them at least that these songs were special.
By the time they were recording the last few songs, Ian made the insane and arrogant statement to himself (not out loud) “I think were making a record somewhere between Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and the Weezer Blue Album” He may have said this to Sarah, who rolled her eyes.
Part 3. Other People.
When you have made a piece of art that you are proud of, you want other people to experience it. That doesn't mean starting a band is a good idea. Starting a band is something teenagers do. And they should. And they should get in a van and play house parties and make lots of bad decisions.
Starting a band with your life partner when you already have a busy business with your life partner is maybe not the best idea. Which is why The Cle Elum is doing it.
The songs on Its Ok If It Falls Apart, are about all of us.
They are not about only the two of us in the band. Music might be the last thing which can bring people together in our weird world.
We call the release of this record “The Worst Business Plan Of All Time”
We want to win and we want to inspire you to win too. The world belongs to us, the people on this planet of all labels and orientations. Theres a few bad eggs, but they are few. And theres lots of us.
The Cle Elum is meant to be a band to unite everyone. These songs were pulled out of the universe, and we all seem to be connected, so in some roundabout way, everyone had a hand in writing them.
The Cle Elum will be touring and if you care to connect with them to come see a show, or buy a record or pitch some crazy idea to them, we are here for that.
Have a nice day. We hope you like these songs. We hope these songs help you be more yourself.