Rocker Rick Grossman shares about addiction recovery in new Matty Johns Good Chat podcast

In a new podcast, Hoodoo Gurus bassist Rick Grossman reveals details of the street fight with Chrissy Amphlett that forced him to leave the Divinyls and go to rehab in the 1980s.

Rick Grossman had to leave The Divinyls in the 1980s to deal with his addiction. Picture: NCA.

Rick Grossman is a rock hero to Hoodoo Gurus fans. For countless musicians and crew, he has been a lifesaver.

Now 33 years sober, having battled heroin addiction when he was a member of the Divinyls, the revered bass player is often sought out by international artists on tour in Australia as part of a network of supporters for those in recovery.

On the Matty Johns Good Chat podcast, Grossman shares how he became good friends with Metallica frontman James Hetfield when the American heavy metal legends were touring Australia as the 2004 Big Day Out headliners.

The Hoodoo Gurus were also on the line-up and the bassist was approached to talk with Hetfield backstage.

Grossman said he was able to share how he became mates with Hetfield while supporting him on that tour as “he’s quite open about it and we’ve become very, very good friends.”

Grossman, left, with his Hoodoo Gurus bandmates. Picture: Christopher Ferguson / Supplied.

“James Hetfield is one of the nicest people you would ever meet in your life. I get summoned to their little section … this guy comes and gets me, he’s the biggest Hells Angel type bloke you’ve ever seen … and I meet James and he says ‘Can we meet up?’” Grossman says.

“We went to a rugby league game, that was the sevens, and we just hung out (that week) and it was great.

“We’ve kept in touch all this time. He loves dragsters and so he’s got a mate in Penrith he goes to see – and he comes and sees me.”

Grossman has been a public advocate for mental health and addiction recovery for the past three decades but he shares how he desperately tried to hide his own struggles and relapses when he was using heroin through the 1980s.

After a gig in Queensland with Divinyls in 1987, he knew he had to stop touring and focus on his rehabilitation.

Grossman with The Divinyls in the 1980s. Picture: Supplied.

Sharing the news of his departure with his adored friend, frontman Chrissy Amphlett, was tough.

“I told (the band) ‘I’ve got to leave’ and they weren’t real happy … I actually had a fistfight with Chrissy,” Grossman says.

“We were in front of our office and she’s going ‘You’re just a f … ing junkie’ and she’s swinging punches at me in the street and I’ve got my hand on her forehead, pushing her away.

“Our office was up in (Kings) Cross and the INXS head office was next to us. And they were all up on the balcony watching, and we both stopped and looked up.

“And then she grabbed me and she put her arm through my mine and said ‘Let’s go and get a cup of tea.’

“It was heartbreaking for me … I love those guys, you know.”

Grossman would spend six month at the Buttery rehab clinic in Byron Bay. But he cautions that step is the “launching pad” not the final destination in recovery.

“This is what people think. They go to a place like that and they think it’s a cure, but it’s not. It’s like a launching pad … that’s where you get a start, learn some tools.”

The rocker, who is a dual inductee to the ARIA Hall of Fame, shares how he would later join the Gurus in 1988 and also has a sideline as a lecturer of music.

Listen to Good Chat with Matty Johns on Apple podcasts.