Death metal guitarist with local ties plans live music venue in North Sacramento
It doesn’t bother Alex Alereza that a similar concept to a roughly 2,000-capacity live music venue that he and his partners are planning in North Sacramento already exists in midtown at Channel 24.
As a professional musician, Alereza welcomes having different venues to play in.
Alereza, who grew up in the Sacramento area and graduated from Jesuit High School in 2005, plays guitar for the Los Angeles-based death metal band Nekrogoblikon. His band has existed since 2006 and has had as many as 10 million YouTube views on its music videos. They will play in October at Sacramento’s most well-known music festival, Aftershock.
Now, Alereza is working on what would be Sacramento’s second mid-size music venue after Channel 24. The venues fit between the roughly 1,000-capacity Ace of Spades and the approximately 4,000-capacity Memorial Auditorium.
“As an artist coming through, we like to play different rooms,” Alereza said. “I think Sacramento needs more than just one version of every room.”
Location of planned live music venue
Alereza and his partners are converting the former Limn furniture warehouse at 1113 Del Paso Boulevard into their venue.
The former warehouse is 16,525 square feet and sits on a 0.52-acre lot, according to planning documents. The building served as a craft services area for cast and crew during 2023 filming of “No Address,” according to Sally Forcier, one of the film’s producers.
Alereza’s group has done some demolition work, he said. The group has also filed planning documents and paid about $110,000 in fees with the city, with most of the money going to a traffic study.
The warehouse and an adjacent, vacant parcel at 1116 El Monte Ave. were purchased last year for $2.1 million by Anoz LLC, according to county records. That company lists Alereza, his brother and his mother as principals. The vacant land is across an alley from the proposed venue and could be used to park two tour buses, a planning document notes.
Alereza said that he and his partners will own the music venue inside the building and that they hope to start construction in coming months.
“I’d love to be meeting you at the venue around this time next year, if that can happen,” Alereza said.
The group is coming with experience, having operated the Los Angeles entertainment venue 1720 since 2018.
“It’s not someone who’s just coming to Sacramento with a hope and a dream,” Sacramento City Councilmember Roger Dickinson said. “It’s somebody who has already done this kind of thing. So they know what they’re doing.”
A planning application filed with the city of Sacramento notes that the venue would “operate in a manner similar to Channel 24 … offering standing-room concerts and performance events.” The application adds that the venue would accommodate up to about 2,000 people and include a mezzanine level.
Alereza said his group was considering providing seating in a VIP area, but added that they were still “deep in the trenches on a lot of stuff here, so that could that stuff could change.”
While Channel 24 is operated by Another Planet Entertainment and Ace of Spades is run by Live Nation, Alereza said that the plan is for his venue to be independent. That is how Alereza and his group run their club in Los Angeles.
“We’ve been pretty happy with running things ourselves and doing things the way we want to do it,” Alereza said.
Alereza said he “absolutely” intends for Nekrogoblikon to play there.
“I want us to be one of the first bands,” Alereza said.
How this venue would fit into North Sacramento
Alereza said he and his partners chose the location because the building was available and matched the square footage they wanted.
“The Sacramento area to me has always just had a need for … kind of more middle-sized venues,” Alereza said.
The venue would be part of a stretch of North Sacramento that has struggled over the years, but is gaining investment.
Former Sacramento City Councilmember Rob Kerth has been working to rebuild his family’s longtime business down the street, Iceland Ice Skating Rink, which was destroyed in a 2010 fire.
Meanwhile, the city is in the process of converting the former Sacramento News & Review offices directly across the street from the proposed music venue into a new public library branch.
Current nightlife venues along Del Paso Boulevard include The Rink Studios, Stoney’s Rockin Rodeo and King Cong Brewing Company.
Dickinson said he’s excited about the proposed music venue and that it fits perfectly into his vision for revitalizing Del Paso Boulevard.
“This is exactly what we can do in North Sacramento,” Dickinson said.
Parking, which will not be available on site, is a potential hurdle for the venue. There is street parking in the area, and two light rail stations within walking distance. Ride services like Lyft also serve the area.
Alereza, for his part, isn’t concerned about parking being an issue for his venue.
“I think based on our capacity and based on what’s available in the area … I think it’s going to work,” Alereza said.
How others feel about the proposed venue
Dickinson isn’t the only person in the neighborhood feeling hopeful about the proposed venue.
Steve Garcia, who owns VIP Deli & Tacos at 1328 Del Paso Blvd, said he would be interested in promoting Afro-Cuban jazz music at the location.
“We need something like that over here because nobody wants to come to Del Paso,” Garcia said.
Mike Hollis, owner of Shift Coffee House at 1616 Del Paso Blvd., has weathered lean times and crafted a business that draws from beyond the neighborhood. In 2020, the website “Eat This, Not That!” rated Shift as offering California’s best grilled cheese.
“It’s not easy over here in this area,” Hollis said. “This is a destination place.”
Hollis welcomed talk of the proposed music venue and said he’d be interested in keeping his business open later for it.
“It’ll give a purpose for people to come around here a little more frequently,” Hollis said.
