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ABC RadioIn the past, Dierks Bentley has christened new tour mates by challenging them to take a plunge in icy waters in January. But for this year’s Mountain High trek, he took it to a whole new level.
You can check out Dierks’ initiation video for yourself on YouTube. In it, Dierks lures Brothers Osborne and LANCO into the woods for a spiritual journey. It starts around a campfire with a mysterious, dreadlocked guru who looks an awful lot like the headliner.
“These guys were all game to come out there and spend four or five hours in the woods,” Dierks recalls, “which says a lot.”
After feeding his followers a mysterious brew, Dierks’ shaman sends the guys up The Mountain for a journey that includes both literal tree-hugging and projectile vomiting.
“There’s a lot of dedication to actually make yourself gag,” Dierks explains. “I mean, these guys ate like Twinkies and dirt and all sorts of stuff, and then they threw up on cue.”
“It’s a skill at this point,” LANCO’s Brandon Lancaster laughs.
Somewhere along the way, band mate Eric Steedly also lost his pants.
“There was quite a bit of action of Eric running around in boxers…” Brandon points out.
“I was in my underwear for a long time,” Eric agrees.
For John and TJ Osborne, however, it was the role they were born to play.
“We basically had to act like we were doing some strange substances in the woods,” John says, “which is amazing because we’ve done a lot of research on that very thing over the years,” he laughs. “It just came naturally!”
For Dierks, Brothers Osborne and LANCO, the craziness continues May 17, when the Mountain High Tour kicks off in Columbia, Maryland. The first tickets for the trek go on sale this Friday.
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