In these waning hours of 2010, as you strap on your dancing shoes and gird your liver for tonight’s ball drop, we’d like to take a moment to thank you for making this past year a special one for us.

This was the year that Empire State Express stopped the revolving door, got out of the garage and started to make a name for ourselves. We hit clubs, festivals, fundraisers and even the airwaves up and down Chicago. Along the way we played with some fantastic local and touring acts–inciting dance parties and even raising a herd of goats for charity. All this simply would not have worked without you, and special thanks go to the collaborators and co-conspirators who smoothed the way for us live, including: Jay, Josh, Jabs, Janelle, Eva, Dave, Paul, Paris, Christopher, Christian, Mat, Mike, Mark, Danny, Silvie, Tanya and Stefanie.

Offstage, you helped us pick our first t-shirt design, kept voting for what covers you want to hear, barbecued and drank with us, ranted and raved with us, rocked and rolled with us. For a DIY band with neither a corporate machine behind us nor a wall of gloss painted around us, it’s these small bits of love and support from you and crew that keep us going between shows. It  means the world to us.

2011 is already shaping up to be a hell of a party, including tours, new recordings and even a web series on ESE’s fledgling YouTube channel. But that’s a story for another year. In the meantime, have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve!

ESE is not a cover band, but we like good cover songs as much as the next music fan. A good cover is like a pithy quote at a cocktail party: most people know it’s not your idea, but they dig your style; and those who don’t know any better think you’re a bloody genius.

Not long ago we reached out to our fans on Facebook for some song suggestions to help us with a new project we’re working on. What we got in return was an embarrassment of options (thank you, by the way). So we could use some help in narrowing things down. Have a look at the “sushi menu” below and check off whatever you want to hear Empire State Express take a stab at. If there’s another song you want us to cover that’s not on this list, just post it to our Facebook page and we’ll add it to the poll.

If you’re wondering what we’re going to do with all these covers, we’re not quite ready to blab just yet. For now, let’s just say we’ll get to a lot of these songs in short order.

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