Music

I play keyboards for a local ska band – Skamageddon – and before that I played for Orange Street. I frequently deputise for other local ska bands too. I’ve been in the support band for the Selecter and actually played alongside Roddy Radiation of the Specials and played keyboards for Bad Manners on several occasions although I was thrown in at the deep end with very short notice for that!

Before I played ska keyboards myself, I ran the website for 2-Tonic, an amazing band that was formed by various members of the south’s best ska band of the 90s, Loonee Toons. I dreamed that one day I might be able to play keyboards for a ska band but never dreamed of where this has taken me, it is honestly amazing!

My stage name, Gary Reggae has stuck and was invented by DJ Pete Allen who used to do a disco at the Rising Sun in Shirley (then my local, now known as the Brass Monkey) and I used to ask for ska/reggae then dance to it! I started DJing myself not long after and bought the equipment needed but the sort of DJing I was doing was more like a wedding DJ (ie just playing records) than what most people would consider a DJ to be now. Playing the records is easy but the skill lays in reading the audience!

Writing

Although I don’t write as much as I used to, I still enjoy writing above various subjects, most recently documenting my travels. I have high standards with grammar and punctuation and am still occasionally  proofread various text. If you’re in need of a quality proofreading job then let me know and I’ll give you a quote.

Buildings

I’ve been interested in buildings pretty much all my life for some reason…maybe I should have been an architect! I have been creating custom buildings for games such as Sim City 3000 onward since the late 90s – my edgy realistic British tower blocks were a great contrast to the very American style architecture that the game came with by default

In around 2004, I had my first taste of realistic and virtually unlimited 3D modelling with the Sim City 4 Building Architect Tool – this used the GMAX software. Over the years, the modelling tools and the buildings themselves have become considerably more complex but I was invited to two separate groups of high quality modellers for Sim City 4.

GMAX has long been largely obsolete and I moved all my work to Blender, which I have over 10 years of experience with now. There was a steep learning curve, particularly with the older versions being less user-friendly. Best of all is it completely free and frequently updated. I love checking the change log for what new features have been added.

Games

Computer and video games have always been an important part of my life. I was brought up with a ZX Spectrum so using computers was second nature to me. Platform and adventure/role-playing games were favourite, which I still love but city-building games were the best of all. From Sim City on the SNES to Sim City 2000, 3000, Sim City 4 (my favourite) to Cities Skylines now but I have yet to treat myself to the sequel.

Like the Sim City franchise, I have long been a user of the Trainz Railroad Simulator, starting in 2004 ish. There was a limited interest in the relatively short routes and small selection of relevant train vehicles but the Surveyor tool was mind blowing – it let me create an entire virtual world in much more detail than a city building game. You can literally place things anywhere and with whatever rotation you want. I started by extending the built-in British Commuter through a new tunnel to a seaside resort and the rest is history! Much of the ease in development was the download station (DLS) where other Trainz users upload assets such buildings/rolling stock/locos and much more.

20 years later, that route is still going strong! It now has a full-sized London Underground style network – everything is fictional, even the place names are generated by a special spreadsheet with a macro that generates place names from a list.

I am working on some Trainz buildings in Blender and am in the advance stages of successfully exporting.

Places

I’m a keen traveller and since discovering the wonders of international travel in 2014, my wanderlust is high! I’ve travelled many European countries and also New York; I’m hoping to return to the USA very soon but still have a seemingly-endless list of places I want to discover!

There is a significant backlog in documenting my travel experiences but watch this space and I’ll try and bring them up to date!

History

I live in Eastleigh, not far from Southampton in the UK and before that lived in Southampton for nearly 15 years so have a keen interest in local history. I have set up and still run a Facebook group on Southampton local history.

I have played an instrumental part in establishing an unofficial website about the history of Ordnance Survey’s former HQ in Maybush. Now the buildings have been demolished then this serves as a historical record as well as a source of nostalgia for some of the thousands of people who worked there between 1968 and 2011.

Videos

I have made short videos on various subjects, mainly music. Some of these are available on YouTube.

Last updated on Friday 11 October 2024 by GaryReggae