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Prussian Blue (duo)

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For the color and iron–cyanide complex, see Prussian blue.
Prussian Blue
Lynx and Lamb Gaede at the age of eleven.
Lynx and Lamb Gaede at the age of eleven.
Background information
Born (1992-06-30) June 30, 1992 (age 32)
OriginBakersfield, California
GenresWhite nationalist pop
Years active2003–2007
LabelsResistance
MembersLynx Gaede
Lamb Gaede

Prussian Blue was an American white nationalist pop pre-teen duo formed in early 2003 by April Gaede, mother of Lynx Vaughan Gaede[1] and Lamb Lennon Gaede,[2] sororal twins born on June 30, 1992, in Bakersfield, California.[3] The twins referred to the Holocaust as a myth[4] and their group was described as racist and white supremacist in nature.[5][6]

Lynx and Lamb were about 14 when they decided that they wanted to cease touring. In 2011, in an interview with The Daily, the twins renounced their previous politics.[7] Lamb was quoted saying, “I’m not a white nationalist anymore. My sister and I are pretty liberal now."

History

The band was named after the country Prussia and the color was chosen randomly. In an interview with Vice Magazine, the twins stated, "Part of our heritage is Prussian German. Also our eyes are blue, and Prussian Blue is just a really pretty color." They also remarked, "There is also the discussion of the lack of 'Prussian Blue' coloring (Zyklon B residue) in the so-called gas chambers in the concentration camps. We think it might make people question some of the inaccuracies of the 'Holocaust' myth."[4] This is a reference to the claims[8][9][10] made by many Holocaust deniers that the Holocaust either could not have happened or that the number of victims could have been far lower.

Lynx and Lamb Gaede first performed together by singing at a white nationalist festival called "Eurofest" in 2001.[11] They began learning how to play instruments in 2002 (Lamb plays the guitar and Lynx plays the violin). In the same year they appeared on a VH1 special called Inside Hate Rock. In 2003, they were featured in a Louis Theroux BBC documentary, entitled Louis and the Nazis, on racism and white supremacy in the United States. Lamb, Lynx, and their mother, April Gaede, also appeared in the low-budget 2003 horror film Dark Walker.[12]

The twins recorded and released a debut CD at the end of 2004 called Fragment of the Future (Resistance Records) which had both an acoustic folk-rock and a bubblegum pop sound. A year later, they recorded their second album, The Path We Chose, which has a more traditional rock sound including both acoustic and electric guitar. Most of the songs on the second album lack the racial and white supremacist overtones of Fragment of the Future and are about more mainstream subject matter, like boys, crushes, and dating. On October 20, 2005, Prussian Blue was featured in a critical segment on ABC's Primetime.[5] A DVD, Blonde Hair Blue Eyes, featuring three music videos and some live performances, was released in 2005. The pair toured the United States in 2005. On August 22, 2006, they were again featured in a critical segment on ABC's Primetime.

The twins moved with their mother and stepfather, Mark Harrington, and younger half-sister, Dresden, from Bakersfield, California, to Kalispell, Montana, in 2006; in their mother's words, Bakersfield was "not white enough." Some of their new neighbors did not welcome them; many city residents passed out flyers warning of the family's views, and signs proclaiming "No Hate Here" appeared on some windows around the town. Some of the people who passed out flyers received threatening letters from members of out-of-state white supremacist organizations.[13] The Montana Human Rights Network planned a rally in Kalispell to protest the family's racist views.[13][14]

The twins toured Europe in the summer of 2007, performing at events for white nationalist organizations. They also appeared as guests on The Political Cesspool. As of early 2009, the band's website and MySpace page are no longer operational.

Ideology

The group had strong ties to the National Vanguard organization, a "white nationalist" group formed by disaffected former members of the National Alliance. Their ideology has been described as racist and white supremacist by mainstream media outlets.[5][6][15] The Daily Telegraph reported that, on stage, the twins executed Nazi salutes.[6]

According to ABC News, the girls were homeschooled by their mother, April Gaede, an activist and writer for the white nationalist organization National Vanguard.[5] The twins' maternal grandfather, who lives in Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California, wears a Nazi swastika belt buckle; he also features the swastika on his truck and has registered it as a cattle brand.[5] During their ABC interview, the twins said they believe Adolf Hitler was a great man with good ideas, and they described the Holocaust as being exaggerated. They have also been criticized for stipulating that goods they donated to Hurricane Katrina victims should go only to white people: "After a day of trying, the supplies ended up with few takers, dumped at a local shop that sells Confederate memorabilia."[3][6]

A 2011 profile in The Daily describes the twins' rejection of some of their previous politics:

But after enrolling in public school and moving to Montana — a predominantly white state, albeit one with a decidedly hippie-ish vibe — Lamb and Lynx decided they simply no longer believed what they’d been taught. ..."I’m glad we were in the band," Lynx said, "but I think we should have been pushed toward something a little more mainstream and easier for us to handle than being front-men for a belief system that we didn’t even completely understand at that time. We were little kids."

Despite this, they still made statements skeptical of elements of the Holocaust.[7]

Lyrics and influences

About half of the songs on Prussian Blue's first album are covers of other songs put out by other "white pride" bands with one (Lamb Near the Lane) co-written by David Lane and a few of the others by Ian Stuart Donaldson and Ken McLellan. One of their famous covers, "Victory Day" was a cover from the racist band, RAHOWA. Two of Prussian Blue's songs on their first album are dedicated to famous German Nazi and white nationalist activists, including Rudolf Hess and Robert Jay Mathews. One of those songs, dedicated to Ian Stuart Donaldson, Robert Jay Matthews, Rudolf Hess and William L. Pierce which was written by Lamb, is "Sacrifice".[5]

Another song, "Gone With the Breeze," is dedicated to Robert Mathews. The cover songs on their album invoke ideas like Valhalla and Vinland, taken from Norse mythology and sagas. Several songs, including "Victory Day," refer to a holy war waged under Creativity (religion).

The lyrics to their song "The Stranger" are taken from a Rudyard Kipling poem of the same name.

Prussian Blue also released a cover of a song called "Ocean of Warriors" in mp3 format, dedicated to white participants in the 2005 Sydney, Australia race rioting.[16]

In 2006, a compilation album was released through the far right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) titled For The Fatherland.[17]

Media

Prussian Blue appeared in two British television documentaries. The first, 2003's Louis and the Nazis by documentary maker Louis Theroux, was an account of white nationalists, including Prussian Blue.[18][19] The second, Nazi Pop Twins, by James Quinn, was first aired in 2007. This documentary stressed the tension that existed between the twins and their mother, April. In this documentary, Lynx and Lamb disavowed their mother's race-related views and said that they want to perform music that was not focused on race. Lynx told Quinn that they wore the infamous t-shirts bearing a smiley face that resembled Adolf Hitler because she believed they "were a joke" and said that "being proud of being white" did not mean she was a racist.[20] Louis Theroux later revisited the twins and their mother to collect material for his book Call of the Weird.

Prussian Blue were the inspiration for Ryan J. Davis and Joe Drymala's musical, White Noise.[21]

The girls were also featured and condemned in a 2006 reissue of conservative political and media commentator Bernard Goldberg's book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.

The two were noted in Jackie Mason and Raoul Felder's book Schmucks!.[22]

Discography

Albums

  • Fragment of the Future (2004)
  • The Path We Chose (2005)
  • For the Fatherland (compilation, 2006)

Singles

  • "Your Daddy"
  • "Keepers of the Light" (Battlecry featuring Prussian Blue)
  • "Stand Up"
  • "I Will Bleed for You"

See also

References

  1. ^ "Lynx at". Nndb.com. 2004-07-19. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  2. ^ "Lamb at". Nndb.com. 2004-07-19. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  3. ^ a b "Young Singers Spread Racist Hate". ABC News. October 20, 2005. Archived from the original on 05-11-2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  4. ^ a b Pearson, Jesse (2004-12-01). "HELLO, WHITE PEOPLE! - Prussian Blue Look to the Future". Viceland. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Young Singers Spread Racist Hate, abcnews.go.com, Oct. 20, 2005
  6. ^ a b c d Elsworth, Catherine (2005-10-25). "Twin pop stars with angelic looks are new face of racism". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
  7. ^ a b Gell, Aaron. "Change of heart: Former Nazi teeny boppers are singing a new tune". CBS19. Retrieved 16/11/13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. ^ The Non-Existent “Auschwitz Gas Chambers” of Deborah Lipstadt, Part I[dead link]
  9. ^ Germar Rudolf: The Rudolf Report[dead link]
  10. ^ "The Chemistry of Auschwitz". Holocaust-history.org. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  11. ^ "Prussian Blue - Content". Prussianbluestore.com. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  12. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373782/fullcredits IMDb.com
  13. ^ a b Bill Redeker (2006-09-15). "Town Tells White Separatist Singers 'No Hate Here". ABCnews.com. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  14. ^ Karina Shagren (2006-11-17). "Montana dealing with new influx of white supremacists". KXLY4. Retrieved 2007-11-12. [dead link]
  15. ^ Yale Daily News - The bittersweet melody of racist tunes[dead link]
  16. ^ http://prussianbluefan.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_prussianbluefan_archive.html Prussianblue.fan.blogspot.com
  17. ^ http://www.20min.ch/news/kreuz_und_quer/story/12368879 From the free daily newspaper 20 Minuten: Nazi-Twins-Album: NPD vertreibt «For the Fatherland» = Nazi-Twins-Album: NPD distributes «For the Fatherland»
  18. ^ "Those ugly Americans". New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  19. ^ Smith, Rupert (2003-12-22). "Reich and wrong". Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  20. ^ "Nazi Pop Twins". IMG Media. July 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  21. ^ "White Noise On". Playbill.com. 2006-09-18. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  22. ^ Mason, Jackie, and Raoul Lionel Felder. Schmucks!: Our Favorite Fakes, Frauds, Lowlifes, Liars, the Armed and the Dangerous, and Good Guys Gone Bad. New York: Collins, 2007. ISBN 978-0061126123
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