Prussian Blue (duo)
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- For other uses, see Prussian blue (disambiguation).
Prussian Blue | ||
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Background information | ||
Origin | ![]() |
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Genre(s) | Folk, Bubblegum pop | |
Years active | 2003–present | |
Label(s) | Resistance | |
Members | ||
Lynx Gaede Lamb Gaede |
Prussian Blue is a white nationalist folk teen duo formed in early 2003 by Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, fraternal twin girls born on June 30, 1992 (age 14) in Fresno, California and brought up in the United States.
Contents |
History
Lynx and Lamb Gaede first performed together by singing at a white nationalist festival called "Eurofest" in 2001. They began to learn to play instruments in 2002 (Lamb plays guitar and Lynx plays 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 anti-semitism 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.[1]
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[citation needed]. A year later, they recorded their second album, The Path We Chose, which has a more traditional rock sound[citation needed] 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.[2] 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) and stepfather Mark Harrington from Bakersfield, California to Kalispell, Montana in 2006 because, in their mother's words, Bakersfield was "not white enough." Some of their new neighbors did not welcome them; a handful of residents of the city passed out fliers warning of the duo's views, and signs proclaiming "No Hate Here" appeared in windows around the town. Some of the people who passed out fliers received threatening letters from members of out-of-state white supremacist organizations.[3] The Montana Human Rights Network has planned a rally in Kalispell to protest the family's racist views.[4]
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:[2].[5][6][7] The Daily Telegraph reports that, on stage, the twins execute Nazi salutes.[5] 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.[2] The twins' grandfather wears a swastika belt buckle, uses the Nazi symbol on his truck, and registered it as a cattle brand.[2] The twins have a younger half-sister. Her full name is Dresden Hale Harrington, who was born on July 19, 2004 (age 2).[8] Her first name is derived from the German city and her middle name is derived from self-proclaimed white supremacist Matt Hale.
During their ABC interview, the twins said they believe Adolf Hitler was a great man with good ideas, such as eugenic standards and incentives to improve the genetic quality of the German people, and marriage loans to help qualified German families begin upon a firm financial basis. In the interview, the twins described the Holocaust as being exaggerated.[9]
They have recently 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."[5] In the ABC Primetime segment referred to above, their representative can be seen going from house to house looking for someone willing to accept a donation of household supplies on a "whites only" basis without success; a white woman, at first incredulous that there would be such a stipulation, exclaims "Screw y'all!"[citation needed]
Name
The band was named after the color Prussian blue. The duo have said that they think Prussian blue is "just a really pretty color," however, in an interview with Vice Magazine, they stated, "there is also the discussion of the lack of 'Prussian Blue' coloring 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. These claims are widely believed to be erroneous and pseudohistorical by the majority of historians.
Other sources have incorrectly attributed the name as "a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes."[2] The twins describe their ancestry as English, Icelandic, and German.[citation needed]
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".[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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 NPD in Germany titled For The Fatherland.[citation needed]
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]
References in the media
Lynx and Lamb have inspired a Broadway play titled "White Noise: A Cautionary Musical" about a pair of sisters named Blanche and Eva who perform songs similar to Prussian Blue. The name of the band is White Noise. However, the play is meant to spread awareness of the dangers of white nationalism and bubblegum pop music, according to the White Noise website.
The twins were also indirectly referenced in an episode of Law and 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.[13]
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.
Discography
- Main article: Prussian Blue discography
Other bands
There are two other bands with the name Prussian Blue. One is a British Blues-rock quartet and the other is a soft rock Korean band.[14]
References
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373782/fullcredits IMDb.com
- ^ a b c d e http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=1231684&page=1
- ^ http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2449483&page= ABCnews.com
- ^ http://www.missoulanews.com/News/News.asp?no=5967 Missoulanews.com
- ^ 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.
- ^ Hammond, Bill, Nancy Dillon. "Mag tells 'Nazi' singers: Heil, no!", New York Daily News, 2005-11-23. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.sigrdrifa.net/pdf/bhr2004.pdf
- ^ Connor, Tracy. "Pop twerps from heil can't carry tune", New York Daily News, 2005-10-30. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://www.holocaust-history.org/auschwitz/chemistry/
- ^ http://prussianbluefan.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_prussianbluefan_archive.html Prussianblue.fan.blogspot.com
- ^ They say "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" on the duo's blog.
- ^ http://www.sori.org/hongcho/pensee/archives/000052.html
See also
External links
- Official Prussian Blue Site
- ABC News article
- New York Daily News article
- Prussian Blue at the All Music Guide
- Daily Telegraph article
- Interview with the National Vanguard, a white nationalist publication.
- Interview with GQ Magazine
- MP3 of a call to Inga Barks Show on KERN Newstalk 1410(Bakersfield) from Lamb Gaede
- Interview with April Gaede on White Wire about the custody battle.
- Interview with Vice Magazine on viceland.com
Critical
- Southern Poverty Law Center on Prussian Blue
- Anti-Defamation League article
- NYU Journalism report on Teen People's decision not to feature Prussian Blue
Categories: Semi-protected | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1992 births | American child singers | Holocaust deniers | People from Bakersfield | California musical groups | Family musical groups | 2000s music groups | All-women bands | Montana musicians | Outsider music | Living people | Sibling duos | People from Montana | White nationalists | Home schooled people