On Wednesday, the UK arm of Converse will release a new track by former New Order/current Bad Lieutenant frontman Bernard Sumner, recorded with Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard of electropop act Hot Chip and DJ/producer duo Hot City.

It’s one of the more unlikely covers you’ll ever hear: former New Order frontman Bernard Sumner crooning Elvis Presley’s melodramatic 1969 hit ‘In the Ghetto’ in a new recording made by the singer’s current band Bad Lieutenant for a forthcoming charity album to benefit a U.K. homeless advocacy group.

The surviving members of Factory Records post-punk outfit Section 25 next month will release ‘Retrofit,’ a remix disc — completed before the untimely death last February of frontman Larry Cassidy — that features 10 of the band’s favorite tracks ‘remade and remodeled using new technology.’

Despite having held a contest inviting fans to make what would become the ‘official video’ of Bad Lieutenant’s second single, ‘Twist of Fate,’ Bernard Sumner and Co. have gone ahead and commissioned their own clip for the track.

Foiled by an Icelandic volcano, New Order spinoff Bad Lieutenant today canceled its remaining U.S. tour dates next week, marking the second time in six months the band has called off what were to be its first-ever American concerts.

As feared, Bernard Sumner’s Bad Lieutenant has joined the growing list of bands — including Johnny Marr and The Cribs — to cancel their appearances at the just-underway Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival because a cloud of volcanic ash has grounded thousands of European flights.

After already scuttling its first-ever American tour once, Bad Lieutenant — featuring Bernard Sumner of New Order — is now ‘stuck in Manchester,’ blocked from getting to the U.S. for its stateside debut because smoke billowing out of an Icelandic volcano has closed the airspace over the U.K.

Bernard Sumner’s New Order spinoff Bad Lieutenant is one of the myriad bands set to play this weekend’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival — and the group today went ahead and announced (spoiler alert) its setlist for Saturday night’s performance.

Bad Lieutenant, featuring New Order’s Bernard Sumner, last week issued ‘Twist of Fate,’ the second single off its 2009 debut, ‘Never Cry Another Tear’ — and now have offered up a video for one of the remixes of its first single, ‘Sink or Swim.’

Kathryn Bigelow, who last night won the Oscar for best director for ‘The Hurt Locker,’ directed a video for New Order’s ‘Touched By the Hand of God’ in 1987 that finds Bernard Sumner and Co. outfitted as a hair-metal band.

Larry Cassidy, co-founder and frontman of Factory Records postpunk outfit Section 25, has died, British music journalist John Robb reports today on his blog. The circumstances surrounding Cassidy’s death are not yet known.

Bad Lieutenant, the new band from New Order’s Bernard Sumner, will make its belated U.S. debut this April with an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and club dates in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, the group announced Monday.

While U.S. fans await word of Bad Lieutenant’s stateside debut — following last fall’s aborted showcase concerts in New York and Chicago — Bernard Sumner’s New Order spinoff on Wednesday announced five new live dates in the U.K. next month.