Corgan to regroup Smashing Pumpkins

The original Smashing Pumpkins on the cover of their Greatest Hits CD. Corgan has not said if any of the old members will be returning in the planned regroup.

CHICAGO - Singer Billy Corgan said on Tuesday he plans to revive The Smashing Pumpkins, his Grammy-winning band which broke up in 2000 after more than a decade of blending alternative rock with the avant-garde.

In full-page advertisements in Chicago newspapers, the bald-headed Corgan said, "I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams."

He did not say which if any of the band's former members would be involved in the revived group, which broke through with albums such as "Gish" and "Siamese Dream."

The Pumpkins' top selling album was "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" which came out in 1995, but as the 1990s progressed their work became increasingly obscure as tensions arose in the group.

They broke up over differences among its four members and Corgan has since jumped from project to project but failed to match his early success.

Corgan, based in Chicago, has just released a solo album, "TheFutureEmbrace" on Reprise Records.

He did not say when he would try to reform the Pumpkins but the new album "represents a new beginning, not an ending. It picks up the thread of the as-yet-unfinished work and charter of The Smashing Pumpkins," he said.

- REUTERS