Prussian Blue (duo)
Encyclopedia
Prussian Blue was a white nationalist
pop
pre-teen duo formed in early 2003 by the mother of Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, sororal twin girls born on June 30, 1992, in Bakersfield, California
. The twins referred to the Holocaust as a myth and their group was described as racist and white supremacist in nature, though they have always claimed to be nothing but separatists and nationalists. In the years since they actively toured the twins have placed aside some of their previous politics.
. 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." This is a reference to the claims made by many Holocaust deniers
that the Holocaust either could not have happened as historians and observers have asserted 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. 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
.
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
. 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. The Montana Human Rights Network planned a rally in Kalispell to protest the family's racist views.
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.
organization, a "white nationalist" group formed by disaffected former members of the hate group National Alliance. Their ideology has been described as racist and white supremacist by some mainstream media outlets.
The Daily Telegraph
reports that, on stage, the twins execute Nazi salute
s.
According to ABC News
, the girls were homeschooled
by their mother, April Gaede, an activist and writer for the white nationalist organization National Vanguard. 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
. 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."
A 2011 profile in The Daily
describes the twins' rejection of some of their previous politics:
and Ken McLellan. One of their famous covers, "Victory Day" was a cover from the racialist 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".
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
.
In 2006, a compilation album was released through the far right
National Democratic Party of Germany
(NPD) titled For The Fatherland.
White nationalism
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
pre-teen duo formed in early 2003 by the mother of Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, sororal twin girls born on June 30, 1992, in Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
. The twins referred to the Holocaust as a myth and their group was described as racist and white supremacist in nature, though they have always claimed to be nothing but separatists and nationalists. In the years since they actively toured the twins have placed aside some of their previous politics.
History
The band was named after the color Prussian blue. In an interview with Vice Magazine, the twins stated, "Part of our heritage is Prussian GermanGerman American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
. 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
Zyklon B
Zyklon B was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust. The "B" designation indicates one of two types of Zyklon...
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." This is a reference to the claims made by many Holocaust deniers
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
that the Holocaust either could not have happened as historians and observers have asserted 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. 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
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
special called Inside Hate Rock. In 2003, they were featured in a Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary, entitled Louis and the Nazis
Louis and the Nazis
Louis and the Nazis is a British documentary that was televised on 21 December 2003. It was directed by Stuart Cabb and written by Louis Theroux. The documentary ran for 80 minutes....
, on racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Lamb, Lynx, and their mother, April Gaede, also appeared in the low-budget 2003 horror film Dark Walker
Dark Walker
Dark Walker is a 2003 direct-to-video horror film directed by Danny Draven. The film is most notable for the appearances of Prussian Blue , a white nationalist separatist band and their mother, April Gaede, a writer of white separatist publication National Vanguard.Dark Walker was filmed at the...
.
The twins recorded and released a debut CD at the end of 2004 called Fragment of the Future
Fragment of the Future
Fragment of the Future is the debut LP from the White Nationalist duo, Prussian Blue.-Track listing:# "The Road to Valhalla" 3:54# "Victory Day" 4:14# "Weiss Weiss Weiss" 1:19...
(Resistance Records
Resistance Records
Resistance Records is a record label owned by Resistance LLC, a society closely connected to the National Alliance. It produces and sells music by neo-Nazi and white separatist musicians, primarily through its website...
) which had both an acoustic folk-rock and a bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
sound. A year later, they recorded their second album, The Path We Chose
The Path We Chose
The Path We Chose is the second and final album recorded by white nationalist twin sisters Lamb and Lynx Gaede, also known as Prussian Blue...
, which has a more traditional rock sound including both acoustic and electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
. Most of the songs on the second album lack the racial and white supremacist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
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
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Primetime
Primetime (TV series)
Primetime is an American news magazine show which debuted on ABC in 1989 with co-hosts Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer and originally had the title Primetime Live.-Early history:...
. 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
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Primetime.
The twins moved with their mother and stepfather, Mark Harrington, and younger half-sister, Dresden, from Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
, to Kalispell, Montana
Kalispell, Montana
Kalispell is a city in and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2010 census put Kalispell's population at 19,927 up 5,704 over 2000. At 40.1% this is the largest percentage of growth of any incorporated city in Montana. Kalispell is the largest city and commercial center...
, 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. The Montana Human Rights Network planned a rally in Kalispell to protest the family's racist views.
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
The Political Cesspool
The Political Cesspool is a weekly talk radio show founded by James Edwards, and syndicated by Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network in the United States...
. As of early 2009, the band's website and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page are no longer operational.
Ideology
The group had strong ties to the National VanguardNational Vanguard (American organization)
National Vanguard is an American National Socialist organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded in 2005 by Kevin Alfred Strom and former members of the National Alliance.-History:...
organization, a "white nationalist" group formed by disaffected former members of the hate group National Alliance. Their ideology has been described as racist and white supremacist by some mainstream media outlets.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
reports that, on stage, the twins execute Nazi salute
Nazi salute
The Nazi salute, or Hitler salute , was a gesture of greeting in Nazi Germany usually accompanied by saying, Heil Hitler! ["Hail Hitler!"], Heil, mein Führer ["Hail, my leader!"], or Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]...
s.
According to ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, the girls were homeschooled
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
by their mother, April Gaede, an activist and writer for the white nationalist organization National Vanguard. The twins' maternal grandfather, who lives in Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California, wears a Nazi swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
belt buckle; he also features the swastika
Nazi symbolism
The twentieth century German Nazi Party was notable for its extensive use of graphic symbolism, most notably the Hakenkreuz , which it used as its principal symbol, and, in the form of the swastika flag, became the state flag of Nazi Germany....
on his truck and has registered it as a cattle brand
Livestock branding
Livestock branding is a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding...
. During their ABC interview, the twins said they believe Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
was a great man with good ideas, and they described the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
as being exaggerated. They have also been criticized for stipulating that goods they donated to Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
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
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
memorabilia."
A 2011 profile in The Daily
The Daily (News Corporation)
The Daily is the world's first iPad-only news app in the United States and Australia, owned by News Corporation.It was originally planned to launch The Daily in San Francisco on January 19, 2011, however the launch was delayed by News Corporation and Apple. The Daily was launched on February 2,...
describes the twins' rejection of some of their previous politics:
"I’m not a white nationalist anymore," Lamb told The Daily in an exclusive interview, the twins’ first in five years. "My sister and I are pretty liberal now." ... "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."
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 DonaldsonIan Stuart Donaldson
Ian Stuart Donaldson was a British Neo-Nazi singer, musician and songwriter, most known as the frontman of Skrewdriver, a British punk rock band that later became a white power rock band...
and Ken McLellan. One of their famous covers, "Victory Day" was a cover from the racialist 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
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
and Robert Jay Mathews
Robert Jay Mathews
Robert Jay Mathews was the leader of an American white nationalist group The Order.Mathews was burned to death during the intense gunfight with approximately seventy-five of the federal law enforcement agents who surrounded his house on Whidbey Island, near Freeland, Washington.Mathews' life was...
. One of those songs, dedicated to Ian Stuart Donaldson
Ian Stuart Donaldson
Ian Stuart Donaldson was a British Neo-Nazi singer, musician and songwriter, most known as the frontman of Skrewdriver, a British punk rock band that later became a white power rock band...
, Robert Jay Matthews, Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
and William L. Pierce which was written by Lamb, is "Sacrifice".
Another song, "Gone With the Breeze," is dedicated to Robert Mathews. The cover songs on their album invoke ideas like Valhalla
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...
and Vinland
Vinland
Vinland was the name given to an area of North America by the Norsemen, about the year 1000 CE.There is a consensus among scholars that the Vikings reached North America approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus...
, taken from Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
and sagas. Several songs, including "Victory Day," refer to a holy war waged under Creativity (religion)
Creativity (religion)
Creativity is a nontheistic, ethnocentric religion founded in 1973 by Ben Klassen with the publication of the book Nature's Eternal Religion and was later expounded upon in the books The White Man's Bible, and Salubrious Living...
.
The lyrics to their song "The Stranger" are taken from a Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
poem of the same name.
Prussian Blue also released a cover of a song called "Ocean of Warriors" in mp3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format, dedicated to white participants in the 2005 Sydney, Australia race rioting
2005 Cronulla riots
The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of sectarian clashes and mob violence originating in Cronulla, New South Wales and spreading, over the next few nights, to additional Sydney suburbs....
.
In 2006, a compilation album was released through the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
National Democratic Party of Germany
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
(NPD) titled For The Fatherland.
Albums
- Fragment of the FutureFragment of the FutureFragment of the Future is the debut LP from the White Nationalist duo, Prussian Blue.-Track listing:# "The Road to Valhalla" 3:54# "Victory Day" 4:14# "Weiss Weiss Weiss" 1:19...
(2004) - The Path We ChoseThe Path We ChoseThe Path We Chose is the second and final album recorded by white nationalist twin sisters Lamb and Lynx Gaede, also known as Prussian Blue...
(2005) - For the FatherlandFor The FatherlandFor the Fatherland is the compilation debut from white nationalist band Prussian Blue. The album has only been released in Europe through the NPD and Deutsche Stimme. Most of the songs from Prussian Blue's albums weren't released due to their racist and nationalist lyrics. The German government...
(compilation, 2006)
Singles
- "Your Daddy"
- "Keepers of the Light" (Battlecry featuring Prussian Blue)
- "Stand Up"
- "I Will Bleed for You"
External links
- Prussian Blue Official Website (defunct) from Archive.org
- [ Prussian Blue] at Allmusic
Articles
- "Change of heart: Former Nazi teeny boppers are singing a new tune"
- Nazi Pop Twins at OurmediaOurmediaOurmedia is a media archive, supported by the Internet Archive, which freely hosts any non-pornographic images, text, and video or audio clips, where this would not violate copyright laws. The website, which launched on March 21, 2005, was founded by Marc Canter and J.D. Lasica.The media archive,...
(Documentary on Prussian Blue. In streaming Flash format.) - Southern Poverty Law Center on Prussian Blue
- Anti-Defamation League article
- Tiny Mix Tapes parody article
- NYU Journalism report on Teen People's decision not to feature Prussian Blue
- ABC News article
- New York Daily News article
- Daily Telegraph article
- Interview with GQ Magazine
- MP3 of a call to Inga Barks Show on KERN Newstalk 1410(Bakersfield) from Lamb Gaede
- Interview with Vice Magazine on viceland.com
- Lamb And Lynx Gaede: The Children Of Hate