Police are investigating whether a dispute between rival bikie gangs may have been behind a fire at a tattoo parlour owned by a former member of the rock group Rose Tattoo.

Suspicious fire ... House of Pain, owned by the former Rose Tattoo bass guitarist Steve King. Photo: Kate Geraghty

The blaze at House of Pain, in Annandale, was spotted shortly before 12.30am yesterday and neighbours in adjoining units had to be evacuated.

The parlour is owned by Steve King, who played with Rose Tattoo from 2000.

Mr King was believed to have been a member of the Nomads gang, but may have switched his allegiance and joined the Hells Angels shortly before Christmas.

The Hells Angels have been on a recruitment drive and Mr King is believed to be one of five Nomads who defected to the group, along with their former national president Scott Orrock. Such changes can cause tension between rival gangs, according to the bikie expert Arthur Veno.

”There’s a strong correlation between recruiting drives and inter-club tensions,” Dr Veno told the Herald last month.

”The growth of one club can also have a flow-on effect on other clubs. A recruitment drive in one club tends to spark a recruitment drive in others in response.”

Mr King displayed guitars from his time with Rose Tattoo in the parlour on Parramatta Road as well as other music memorabilia, all of which is thought to have been destroyed in the fire.

A year ago the nearby Hell’s Angel’s clubhouse on Crystal Street, Petersham, was blown up and shots fired into another tattoo parlour on Parramatta Road.

Four men associated with the Nomads were arrested at Kings Street Wharf after an assault on nightclub bouncers about 12.30am on February 14, 2010.