One band's bassist is about to become a dad, and another band's singer has picked up his bass. Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean has become a temporary member of Wolf Alice this October, joining them as the opening act on Olivia Rodrigo's tour — all because Theo Ellis decided to step away from the stage to be home with his partner, who's about to give birth.
Olivia Rodrigo's "Unraveled Tour," launched in support of her third album *You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love*, is a 65-date run that kicked off late last month with back-to-back shows in Connecticut before moving through Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and North Carolina, with Wolf Alice serving as the opening act throughout. But at most of these shows, it hasn't been Theo Ellis standing in the bassist's spot — it's been Cumming.
She announced the news on social media last week, posting a photo of herself and Wolf Alice frontwoman Ellie Rowsell riding scooters together, writing that she was "so excited" to join the band for the entire month of October. "Theo and his family are going through some major life changes, and I feel so honored to be asked to step in," she wrote.
She later shared another video on Instagram, mentioning that "White Horses" is one of her favorite tracks from Wolf Alice's latest album *The Clearing*, while documenting her process of "getting ready to pick up the bass" for the shows. After the opening night in Charlotte, North Carolina, she posted another clip of herself performing "Play The Greatest Hits" with the band, calling it "quickly becoming one of my favorite moments of the whole show," and tagged Ellis in the caption, praising him as "one of the most fun, most worth watching and listening to bassists in rock." She ended the post with: "My life is so cool."
