People may be calling this summer's Stone Temple Pilots tour a reunion outing. But that's probably not the word guitarist Dean DeLeo would use -- even though in the five years since the group's last show, the four band members moved on to different projects.

"[Drummer] Eric [Kretz] put it quite simply last week," DeLeo said. "He said, 'If somebody's chewing his food too loudly, you hear that for 900 days over a few years and it starts getting to you.' It's kind of funny. It sounds very trite. But it definitely wasn't a breakup. It was a respite."

So maybe it was inevitable that the Stone Temple Pilots -- appearing Wednesday at the E Center in West Valley City -- would resume their career. But even as recently as early 2007, it didn't seem like the band's future was anywhere in sight.

Singer Scott Weiland was firmly entrenched in Velvet Revolver, a successful band in its own right that also featured three former members of Guns 'N Roses -- guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum.

The group released "Libertad" last July, a popular follow-up to the group's hit debut CD, "Contraband."

The other three erstwhile Stone Temple Pilots members -- DeLeo, his brother Robert DeLeo (bass) and Kretz -- had joined forces with singer Richard Patrick from Filter in the band Army of Anyone. In early 2007, that group launched a tour in support of a strong debut album.

But as the year went on, there were signs of trouble in paradise for both groups. Rumors of tensions within Velvet Revolver started to trickle at an increasing rate.

Army of Anyone, meanwhile, fell off the radar after a winter run of shows and by mid-year the band was essentially finished for the time being.

What wasn't known publicly as Velvet Revolver continued to grind on behind "Libertad" was that by fall of 2007, the seeds for a Stone Temple Pilots reunion had already been sown.

It all started with a phone call to Dean DeLeo from Weiland's wife, Mary. She was involved in a private party and wanted to know if Farm Fur, a 12-piece band that included DeLeo and Steve Ferrone, the drummer with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, would play the event. Before the call was over, she asked DeLeo if he wanted to speak to Weiland. Talk turned to the idea of Weiland singing with Farm Fur at the party.

"Scott was like, 'Well, let's do it,' " DeLeo said. "And I kind of said, 'You know, man, I don't know if that's the best representation for you and I to get back together on stage after all these years.' And he's like, 'You're right.' So we sat that one out. And we talked and stayed in contact. This is like nine months ago. You know, a couple of months after that, the four of us were in a room together. A couple of months after that we were in a room again with agents and lawyers, and voila, a 65-date tour is spawned."

The final hurdle was cleared at the beginning of April when Weiland was officially dismissed from Velvet Revolver.

So Stone Temple Pilots were back up and running, resuming a career that some felt had seen as many missed opportunities as triumphs.

DeLeo didn't express any bitterness that Stone Temple Pilots didn't accomplish more in their first 14 years together. But he didn't dispute that the band members think there is still unfinished business.

"I think we all felt that," said DeLeo, who didn't shoot down rumors that the band might record new music after the summer tour. "Robert said something -- he was doing an interview and I was sitting in on it-- he said it so beautifully: 'You know, STP is sort of like this unmade bed. It's messy at times. It can be messy, but it's warm and comfortable getting in it.' "