Wu-Tang Clan's recent stops on the Rock the Bells tour have marked a positive return to form for the Wu.

That's a sign of growth, says the group's leader, RZA.

Back in 1997, when Wu-Tang Clan embarked on a tour with Rage Against the Machine, it was, quite frankly, a disaster. About a dozen stops into the 30-date outing, Wu-Tang "imploded," RZA says. "It was a big tour and Wu-Tang dropped the ball. We got caught up in our personal lives, and (members) didn't show up for the concerts. I guess we all had so much money, we didn't care.

"Now everybody's matured, and they understand the importance of what we're doing."

RZA (born Robert Diggs) figures the shenanigans put the brakes on their long-term momentum at the time. "Even though we had success and had more platinum records after that, I still believe that put a halt on our true growth and legendary status that we could have had, because we stopped in the middle."

Wu-Tang's latest version of its "Rock the Bells" tour reveals a band a decade older and wiser. They will be joined by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Redman and MC Supernatural in Honolulu.

RZA says this tour is running smoothly — the band has been performing an hour set that has seen the group playing such classics as "Triumph" and "Gravel Pit." All eight surviving members share the stage.

"It's a thrill ride," RZA says. "All the different personalities all combined. It's like a cardiovascular workout."

Missing is Wu-Tang's most outlandish figure, Ol' Dirty Bastard, who died in 2004 of an accidental drug overdose.

"In one way, it's not weird because ODB was so unpredictable, he may show up or not show up," RZA says, of being onstage without ODB. "But it's weird knowing that no matter what, he can't show up. It gets to you."

RZA, his cousin GZA and ODB founded the group in Staten Island, N.Y., in 1992. Its raw debut album, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)," is considered one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time.

Many of the members, including RZA, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Method Man, have gone on to individual recording success and careers as actors, producers and composers.

The tally of albums that members of the Wu-Tang Clan were involved in as a group, solo artists, performers or producers is 77 so far, says RZA.

But there is something special when they come together.

"We always compare ourselves to 'Voltron,' " RZA says of the cartoon featuring various Voltrons with individual powers. "When it comes time to save the universe, they combine together to form one entity.

"Individually we do our thing, but when we come together, we form something so powerful, it surpasses what we have individually."

Few hip-hop acts have had the staying power of Wu-Tang.

"Most artists have expired after three- or five-year careers. A lot of hip-hop guys, we lose our focus and we get caught up in the life and it burns us out quickly," RZA says. "With Wu-Tang, it's different when you're doing something and you're living it. We do it whether we're getting paid for it or not because hip-hop is our love."

But RZA knows that hip-hop is struggling as its market share has fallen at a much quicker pace than the overall CD sales decline of the past few years. Even though he easily reels off the names of a number of hip-hop artists he admires, including Slick Rick, Rakim, 50 Cent and Kanye West, he believes that the drop in sales is commensurate with a drop in the quality.

"It's been very cookie-cutter, factory-type music that last few years," he says. And, like many of us, RZA is confused by the plethora of like-sounding acts.

"No disrespect to the new hip-hop artists coming up, but I can't keep up with the names: Young this, Young that. It's so much of the same thing," he says.

Wu-Tang Clan hopes to raise the talent pool when it releases "The 8 Diagrams" (due in stores Nov. 14), its first album of new material in six years. RZA says to expect "a few twists on hip-hop" and that, as always, the music will be informed by the members' lives.

"Some of us had spent a year back living in the projects, being in a situation celebrity isn't in," he says.

"Look at Method Man, he's a movie star, but you'll catch him in Park Hill, Staten Island. He's able to take the voice of the people from the 'hood to Hollywood."