Eastern Conference Champions

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Lore & Background

Eastern Conference Champions (also known as ECC) was formed by Joshua Ostrander and Greg Lyons in 2005, shortly after leaving the rock band Laguardia. They released The Southampton Collection EP on Retone Records in March 2006. In late 2006 the band was signed to Geffen/Suretone Records. They worked with British producer Owen Morris on their first full-length album Ameritown, released July 17, 2007. The release was a critical success but the band opted out of their contract and self-released records under their imprint RockHampton. Melissa Dougherty joined in 2009 after the departure of founding bassist Vern Zaborowski. The band recorded The Santa Fe EP, self-released September 30, 2009. The EP gained TV placements for 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Melrose Place'. The band was featured on the season finale of Gossip Girl on May 17, 2010 with their rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right'. Based on the success of the Santa Fe EP, the band decided to record a full length once they realized they were going to be on the Twilight Eclipse soundtrack. The album, Speak-ahh, was to be released on April 26 via RockHampton Records. The band was thinking of shortening their name to 'ECC' in Spring 2010 until realizing they forgot to tell the producers of Twilight who shipped the record with the full name. On August 24, 2015, Josh Ostrander announced that Eastern Conference Champions was disbanding following their release 'Love in Wartime' on iTunes.

In Their Own Story

The culmination of the Celtics' Eastern Conference run came against the Orlando Magic. In Game 5 of their semifinal matchup, fans witnessed the final game played at Amway Arena, a building formerly known as the Orlando Arena and TD Waterhouse Centre. The series concluded in Game 6 when Boston defeated Orlando, avenging their Game 7 loss from the prior season. This victory sent the Celtics to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years. It was a stark contrast to the Magic's fate; while Orlando had become the third straight team to go 8–0 through the first two rounds only to lose in the conference finals, Boston moved forward. The series also featured the last NBA Finals appearance for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, cementing this run as the final chapter of that specific core's journey together.

Reader's Guide

The band's discography includes albums: Ameritown (2007), Akustiks (2010), SPEAK-AHH (2011), Love in Wartime (2015); EPs: The Southampton Collection EP (2006), Home Away EP (2007) Vinyl 7', Santa Fe EP (2009); and the soundtrack The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (soundtrack) (2010).

Did You Know?

• The band's name was originally too long, and they joked that nobody wanted to type it.
• Josh Ostrander designs all artwork and posters for the band.
• The song 'Sideways Walking' from the Santa Fe EP is about trying to quit smoking.