LONDON-- Smashing Pumpkins [ tickets ] will play their possibly last ever U.K. dates in late October and early November, according to British news reports. In a Los Angeles radio interview in May, frontman Billy Corgan said that the group, which formed in 1989 in Chicago, will split after this tour.

The new British dates follow a European tour which was cut short earlier this year after Corgan came down with a throat infection before a gig in Manchester, England. The Pumpkins will play U.K. stadium shows in Glasgow, Birmingham and London, and make up their missed show at Manchester's Apollo Theatre.

The transcript of the Los Angeles interview has been posted on the band's official website. Corgan told KROQ's Tami Heide, "It's true I am here to finally announce that the band is going to break-up at the end of this year. ... We felt that before the start of this album that we had sort of come to the end of our, sort of, road--emotionally, spiritually, musically. So we wanted to make one more album, together. That was the intention of getting Jimmy back in the band was to make one more album and sort of end on a good note--you know, between each other, more importantly than the public part of it."

Corgan's plan to keep the original line-up intact for one last album and tour was waylaid last September when Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky left the band to pursue an acting career. Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur quickly replaced Wretzky, and the Pumpkins launched a world tour in support of "MACHINA" earlier this year.

Wretzky, meanwhile, was arrested and charged with possession of crack cocaine in January. The charges were dropped on May 19 after Wretzky completed a drug awareness program.

Trouble continued to plague the Pumpkins into the new millennium as Sharon Osbourne, wife of rocker Ozzy, announced in January that she was resigning from her position as the band's manager due to a cantankerous relationship with Corgan.