According to The Onion, "Vortis is far from academic, however—in fact, it's decidedly and proudly old-school." That's not something the band takes as an insult. With tight, relentless songs, Vortis continues packing melody and substance into nuggets that rarely surpass the two-minute mark. It maintains the agitainment now with songs that pay homage to what punk rock has always done at its very best - rebel & destroy. Vortis did not re-invent the wheel, but it did apply some WD-40 to it. "The Vortex is the point of maximum energy."
The band formed in mid-2000, taking its name from the pre-World War I movement spearheaded by writers James Joyce and Ezra Pound and graphic artist Wyndham Lewis. Their goal: "To perpetuate violent structures of adolescent clarity" throughout life—that is, to live with the lust for life and joie de vivre of a teenager, which the band members thought was an ideal definition of rock 'n' roll half a century before the sound was born. Since then, the band has evolved through many incarnations. With the current lineup being a three piece, the music of Vortis is less overtly political but no less thought-provoking, and even more intense. The music reflects the band's well-honed live attack, which has been likened to a speeding freight train threatening to, but never quite, fly off the rails of its aggressive but melodic, old-school but forward-looking brand of art-punk. Just listen.