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Dean DeLeo says that STP never really broke up. But he's sure happy they're back together (© Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis)

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"I always knew this day would come," says Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo of the band's reformation and their brand-new, self-titled album, a disc so jam-packed with goodness that many (including us) are already calling it one of the great comebacks in recent music history.

"I've heard Scott [Weiland] talk about us making more music as 'unfinished business,' and you know, c'est la vie," says DeLeo. "Here we are. I hope to make five more great records with this band."

In late 2002, the multi-platinum Pilots - DeLeo, his bassist brother Robert, drummer Eric Kretz and singer Scott Weiland - imploded, and Weiland soon joined the trouble-plagued supergroup Velvet Revolver.

"A lot of people called our situation a 'break-up,' says DeLeo, "but we - and I'm talking about the band - refer to it as a much-needed respite. Look, if we didn't go our separate ways right then and kind of tuck this in bed for a while, we never would've gotten back together. We were shoulder-to-shoulder for 14 years. We spent most of our adult lives in tight surroundings and quarters.

"So a lot of things happened during that rest," he continues. "Scott got involved in Velvet Revolver, Robert and I got involved in Army Of Anyone [which also featured Robert Patrick from Filter and drummer Ray Luzier]. But I always knew that we'd come back to the table and do this, 'cause it didn't end with 'I don't ever want to see you again.'"

And now, following Weiland's highly-publicized (and extremely messy) 2008 departure from Velvet Revolver, the Pilots are indeed back, having lost little momentum it would seem. The new album is self-produced (with some assistance from noted boardsman Don Was) and its12 songs are immensely satisfying, running the gamut from '60s-laced pop gems (Between The Lines, Cinnamon) to heavy-duty rockers (Hazy Daze, Fast As I Can) to admitted Aerosmith homages (Huckleberry Crumble) to a passel of tunes that reveal the DeLeo brothers' deep fascination with country music.

"Scott and I saw each other and talked quite a bit during Velvet Revolver. He came out to my house and expressed that things were a little strained" Dean DeLeo on the beginnings of the STP reunion

MusicRadar sat down recently with the New Jersey-born Dean DeLeo to talk about the state of STP, their reunion and what the future holds for them. We also got a chance to talk a little (OK, a lot) guitar and gear action.

So much has been made of Scott's exit from Velvet Revolver. While he was in the band, did you guys have contact with him? Did you have an inkling that he was unhappy?

"Yeah, yeah. Scott and I saw each other and talked with each other quite a bit during Velvet Revolver. He came out to my house and expressed that things were a little strained. You never want to hear that. It was kind of a drag to hear that. But we were all very respectful for what one another had going on; we never wanted to get in the way of that.

"With me knowing that Scott was unhappy in that camp, another thing came into play: I was getting calls from our agent telling me that promoters were calling to see if the band was interested in doing a bunch of the summer festivals. And I was like, 'That's interesting to know…' Scott and I talked and…if Velvet Revolver was fine, I would've been respectful and not made the call to Scott, but I knew that things were fragmented in that camp, and I called and said, 'A lot of stuff going on right now, is this something we want to do?' And I spoke to Eric and Robert and it was like, 'Why not?'"

So it was kind of like, "If you're unhappy in that home, there's another home right here"?

"Yeah."

Did you and Robert have a backlog of songs that became this new album?

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