The Smashing Pumpkins are rumoured to be reforming after six years to play in a Californian festival.

The band split in 2000, after their final (and least recognised) album, Machina spawned the likes of Billy Corgan's Zwan and Melissa Auf Der Maur's solo career.

Lead singer Billy Corgan spoke about the reform in an advert placed in his local Chicago Tribune: "When I played the final Smashing Pumpkins show on the night of December 2, 2000, I walked off the stage believing that I was forever leaving a piece of my life behind. I naively tried to start a new band, but found that my heart wasn't in it. I moved away to pursue a love that I once had but got lost. So I moved back home to heal what was broken in me, and to my surprise I found what I was looking or. I found that my heart is in Chicago, and that my heart is in the Smashing Pumpkins.

"For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again."