Heartworms Artistfacts

1998
Heartworms is Jojo Orme, an English post-punk musician who grew up in Cheltenham. Her mother is Chinese-Danish and her father Pakistani-Afghan. She grew up with the music her mother listened to: Hot Chocolate, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Arabic and Egyptian music. Orme only discovered post-punk at university. She started listening to The Cure and Siouxsie and The Banshees and fell in love with the gothic culture.
Orme grew up in a difficult home environment and spent time in foster care. By the age of 16, she was living independently. She helped pay her rent by busking with a repertoire that included First Aid Kit, Jeff Buckley, The Beatles and Oasis. "It was hard, because I had to pay the rent, but also be a child the same time," she told Mojo magazine.
Orme learned to play guitar by strumming tunes like "Hey There Delilah." She started writing her first songs while living in a hostel.
The heartworm is a parasitic worm infecting dogs. But Orme's project isn't named after that. She took it from a 2017 album by The Shins.
Orme is passionate about aviation and World War II military history, and volunteers at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, London, assisting with aircraft upkeep.

Spitfires are a special interest; she has incorporated parts of a downed Spitfire into her art and merchandise, and dedicated the track "Warplane" to a Spitfire pilot.
Orme frequently performs as Heartworms in vintage military attire, including army jackets and berets, making military imagery a key part of her identity.
Aside from World War II aviation, Orme also enjoys sketching and poetry. She has cited poets like John Keats and John Cooper Clarke as inspirations.

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