Prussian Blue (duo)

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For other uses, see Prussian blue (disambiguation).
Prussian Blue
Lynx and Lamb Gaede at the age of eleven.
Lynx and Lamb Gaede at the age of eleven.
Background information
Origin Bakersfield, California
Genre(s) White Nationalist Folk
Years active 2003–present
Label(s) Resistance
Website Prussian Blue Official Site
Members
Lynx Gaede
Lamb Gaede

Prussian Blue is a controversial white nationalist folk teen duo formed in early 2003 by Lynx Gaede[1] and Lamb Gaede,[2] fraternal twin girls born on June 30, 1992, near Fresno, California.

Contents

[edit] History

Lynx and Lamb Gaede first performed together by singing at a white nationalist festival called "Eurofest" in 2001.[3] 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 also appeared in a low-budget 2003 horror film called Dark Walker.[4]

They 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 nationalist 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 duo toured the United States in 2005. On August 22, 2006, they were again featured in a critical segment on ABC's Primetime.

The duo moved with their mother (April Gaede), their stepfather (Mark Harrington) and their younger half-sister from Bakersfield, California to Kalispell, Montana in 2006 because, in their mother's words, Bakersfield was "not white enough." Their new neighbors did not welcome them; city residents passed out fliers warning of the duo's views, and signs proclaiming "No Hate Here" appeared on windows around the town. Some of the people who passed out flyers received threatening letters from members of out-of-state white supremacist organizations.[6] The Montana Human Rights Network has planned a rally in Kalispell to protest the family's racist views.[6][7]

The duo toured Europe in 2007.

[edit] Ideology

The group has 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 in nature by many organizations.[5][8][9] The Daily Telegraph reports that, on stage, the twins execute Nazi salutes.[8]

However, Lynx and Lamb, as well as representatives from National Vanguard, claim not to be supremacists, but separatists, saying they want a homeland for white people and that being supremacist contradicts the ideology of separatism.

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' grandfather wears a swastika belt buckle, uses the Nazi symbol on his truck, and 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."[8]

[edit] Name

The band was named after the color Prussian blue. 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 mentioned that, "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."[10] This is a reference to the claims[11] often made by many Holocaust deniers that the Holocaust either could not have happened as commonly believed, or that the number of slain must have been far lower.

[edit] Lyrics and influences

Most of the songs on Prussian Blue's first album are covers of white nationalist songs. The majority of those were written by David Lane, Ian Stuart, and Ken McLellan. Two of Prussian Blue's songs on their first album are dedicated to famous Nazis and neo-Nazi activists, including Rudolf Hess and Robert Jay Mathews. One of those songs, 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 race war which they believe to be coming soon.

The debut single for their second album, "The Stranger," is adapted from a poem by Rudyard Kipling which is popular with white supremacists and nationalists.[citation needed]

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.[12]

In 2006, a compilation album was released through the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) titled For The Fatherland.[13]

On September 23, 2006, Prussian Blue released a new single entitled 'Stand Up' as their contribution to the 'Free Matt Hale' (of the Creativity Movement) CD being produced by Condemned Records.[citation needed]

The girls have been active in the white nationalist movement from a very early age. Lynx had a poem published in Vice Magazine in 2003 entitled 'What Must Be Done' at the age of ten.[citation needed]

[edit] References in the media

Prussian Blue was the inspiration for Ryan J. Davis and Joe Drymala's musical, White Noise.[14] The show received rave reviews and was featured on Good Morning America[15] and ABC Primetime Live[16]. The show has been optioned for a major New York run.[17]

The twins were also indirectly referenced in an episode of Law & Order, in which an anti-Semite's (played by Chevy Chase) teenage son has a band poster on his bedroom door featuring the fictional duo "Dresden Angels", a pair of blonde Caucasian girls wearing dirndls and holding guitars over a Reichskriegsflagge.[18]

Boston Legal aired an episode December 5, 2006 in which Alan Shore is involved in a case concerning a white nationalist father of twin girls who sing in a white power band.

Prussian Blue has appeared in two British television documentaries. The first, 2003's "Louis and the Nazis" by documentary maker Louis Theroux, was an account of white supremacists including Prussian Blue. 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 and showed them trying to distance themselves from the "white pride" movement. Louis Theroux would later revisit the duo and their mother to collect material for his 2005 book The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures which includes a chapter about the family.

The duo were also featured in a 2006 issue of the book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lynx at NNDB.com
  2. ^ Lamb at NNDB.com
  3. ^ Prussian Blue - Content
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373782/fullcredits IMDb.com
  5. ^ a b c d e http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1231684&page=1
  6. ^ a b Bill Redeker (2006-09-15). Town Tells White Separatist Singers 'No Hate Here. ABCnews.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  7. ^ Karina Shagren (2006-11-17). Montana dealing with new influx of white supremacists. KXLY4. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  8. ^ a b c Elsworth, Catherine. "Twin pop stars with angelic looks are new face of racism", The Daily Telegraph, 2005-10-25. Retrieved on 2006-06-12. 
  9. ^ Yale Daily News - The bittersweet melody of racist tunes
  10. ^ Viceland - HELLO, WHITE PEOPLE! - Prussian Blue Look to the Future
  11. ^ http://www.holocaust-history.org/auschwitz/chemistry/
  12. ^ http://prussianbluefan.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_prussianbluefan_archive.html Prussianblue.fan.blogspot.com
  13. ^ 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»
  14. ^ White Noise On Playbill.com
  15. ^ White Noise On Good Morning America(Video)
  16. ^ White Noise On ABC Primetime Live (Video)
  17. ^ White Noise Ends Run Sept. 30; Off-Broadway Transfer? (BroadwayWorld.com)
  18. ^ They say "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" on the duo's blog.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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[edit] Critical