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Prussian Blue was an American
pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...
duo which was composed of Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede,
fraternal twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...
who were born on June 30, 1992, in
Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...
. The duo was formed in early 2003 by their mother April Gaede, a member of the
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
organization
National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...
. Their music was described as
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and
white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
, promoting neo-Nazi rhetoric such as
Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...
. Lynx and Lamb were about 14 years old when they decided to cease touring. In a 2011 interview with ''The Daily'', a U.S. and Australian news app, the twins renounced their previous political views.


History

In an interview with ''
Vice Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company V ...
'', the twins stated, "Part of our heritage is
German American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...
. Also our eyes are blue, and
Prussian Blue Prussian blue (also known as Berlin blue, Brandenburg blue, Parisian and Paris blue) is a dark blue pigment produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. It has the chemical formula . It consists of cations, where iron is in the oxidat ...
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 (; translated Cyclone B) was the trade name of a cyanide-based pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It consists of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid), as well as a cautionary eye irritant and one of several adsorbents such ...
residue) in the so-called
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
s in the
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
s. We think it might make people question some of the inaccuracies of the 'Holocaust' myth." This is a reference to claims made by many
Holocaust deniers Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: *Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...
that the Holocaust either did not happen or had far fewer victims than generally believed. Lynx and Lamb Gaede first performed together by singing at a
white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...
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 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
special called ''Inside Hate Rock''. In 2003, they were featured in a
Louis Theroux Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British and American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received three British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award. After graduati ...
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
documentary, entitled ''
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. Louis travels to California to meet the man dubbed "the mo ...
'', on
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and
white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. 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 Resistance Records was a Canadian record label owned by Resistance LLC which was closely connected to the organization National Alliance. It produced and sold music by neo-Nazi and white separatist musicians, primarily through its website. Adve ...
) which had both acoustic folk-rock and bubblegum-pop sounds. 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 An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
. Most of the songs on the second album lack the racial and
white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
's ''
Primetime Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to b ...
''.Young Singers Spread Racist Hate
abcnews.go.com, October 20, 2005
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 their younger half-sister, Dresden, from Bakersfield to
Kalispell Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: Kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in Montana and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. Among cities in Montana, ...
in
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
, 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 people 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 against the family's racist views. The twins toured
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
in the summer of 2007, performing at events for white nationalist organizations. They also appeared as guests on ''
The Political Cesspool ''The Political Cesspool'' is a weekly far-right talk radio show founded by Tennessean political activist James Edwards and syndicated by the organizations Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network in the United States. First broadc ...
''. But as of early 2009, the band's website and
MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page were no longer operational.


Ideology

The duo had strong ties to the National Vanguard organization, a "
white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a Race (human categorization), raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara ...
" group which was formed by disaffected former members of the
National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...
. Their ideology has been described as
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
and
white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
by mainstream media outlets. ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' reported that, on stage, the twins executed
Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...
s. According to
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
, the girls were
homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...
by their mother, April Gaede, an activist and a writer for National Vanguard. The twins' maternal grandfather, who lives in
Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California Yokuts Valley, formerly Squaw Valley, is a unincorporated community located in Fresno County, California, at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada on State Route 180 just below Kings Canyon National Park. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a ...
, wears a Nazi
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
belt buckle; he also features the swastika on his truck and he has registered it as a cattle brand. During their ABC interview, the twins said they believed that
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
was a great man with good ideas, and they described the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
as being exaggerated. They have also been criticized for stipulating that the goods they donated to
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
victims should only go to white people: "After a day of trying, the supplies ended up with few takers, dumped at a local shop that sells
Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
memorabilia." A 2011 profile in ''The Daily'' describes the twins' rejection of some of their previous political views as follows:
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 in which they expressed their
skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...
about some elements of
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
.


Lyrics and influences

About half of the songs on Prussian Blue's first album are covers of other songs which were put out by other
white pride White pride and white power are expressions primarily used by white separatist, white nationalist, fascist, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist organizations in order to signal racist or racialist viewpoints. It is also a slogan used by the pro ...
bands and one of them was co-written by David Lane and a few of the other songs were written by
Ian Stuart Donaldson Ian Stuart Donaldson (11 August 1957 – 24 September 1993), more commonly known as Ian Stuart, was an English neo-Nazi musician. He was best known as the front-man of Skrewdriver, originally a punk band which, from 1983 onwards, he rebranded ...
. One of their cover songs was put out by the racist band RaHoWa. Two of Prussian Blue's original compositions on their first album are dedicated to prominent Nazis and white nationalist activists. Prussian Blue also released a cover of a song titled "Ocean of Warriors" in
mp3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
format, dedicated to white participants in the 2005 Sydney, Australia race rioting. In 2006, a compilation album was released by the
far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...
(NPD) titled ''For The Fatherland''.


Media

Prussian Blue appeared in two
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
television documentaries. The first, 2003's ''
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. Louis travels to California to meet the man dubbed "the mo ...
'' by documentary maker
Louis Theroux Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British and American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received three British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award. After graduati ...
, was an account of white nationalists, including Prussian Blue. The second, ''
Nazi Pop Twins ''Nazi Pop Twins'' (also known as ''America's Hate Rock Twins'') is a 2007 British documentary wherein filmmaker James Quinn travels to the United States to investigate Prussian Blue, a pop duo composed of twin sisters Lynx and Lamb Gaede. The fil ...
'', 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. Louis Theroux revisited the twins and their mother to collect material for his book ''Call of the Weird''. In early September 2020, the twins were featured in another documentary by
Louis Theroux Louis Sebastian Theroux (; born 20 May 1970) is a British and American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received three British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award. After graduati ...
called ''Louis Theroux - Life on the Edge: Beyond Belief'' which originally aired on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
. Theroux's second documentary explored the twins' journey of leaving what they described as their racist ideology.


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"


References


External links

* *
Prussian Blue Official Website (defunct)
from
Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...
* {{Authority control 1992 births American child singers American people of German descent Former white supremacists Family musical groups Living people Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups from Bakersfield, California Musical groups from Montana Sibling musical duos American twins American musical duos American all-female bands