Adventure Lost's “You Better Watch Your Back” Is Basically a Middle Finger to the Entire U.S. Healthcare System

Let’s be real: most “political” songs these days feel like a PR stunt. A tweet in musical form. A safe little chant so nobody loses brand deals or streaming playlist placements. But Adventure Lost? Yeah, they’re not playing that game. Their new single, “You Better Watch Your Back,” is a brick through the window of America’s healthcare hellscape, and honestly, somebody needed to throw it.

This isn’t a metaphorical protest track wrapped in cute indie metaphors. Nah. It points the finger directly at the suits who cash in on sickness while telling the rest of us to “take care” and “stay well,” assuming we can survive the premiums and debt collectors. The song launches with a gut punch, warning there’s a “killer on the loose.” Except the twist hits fast: maybe the killer isn’t lurking in the streets, maybe he’s sitting in a penthouse, sipping something expensive, deciding who gets treatment and who gets a funeral.

Adventure Lost isn’t parachuting into social commentary for fun. Their history backs the weight of what they’re saying. Originally formed in 2016 by Jack Faracchio and Larry Iaccio in Philadelphia, the band carved out a lane with their concept album Going Back to Sleep in 2017, toured like their lives depended on it, then came back stronger after the world shut down. Now, with Alex DiPasquale (guitar), Karena Crutchfield (keys & flute), and Tucker Pendleton (bass) joining the force, the resurrected 5-piece is a whole different beast.

Indie, rock, rhapsodic, symphonic, and theatrical genres are too small for whatever this is. They’re building experiences, not singles.

Let’s stop pretending that letting people die because they can’t afford insulin is anything short of violence. Adventure Lost doesn’t flinch away from that reality. This song doesn’t try to say “both sides have points,” because… no. Some things aren’t a debate. Insurance companies profiting off preventable suffering is one of them.

This band isn’t trying to go viral; they’re trying to build a real-world movement. Their shows are described as theatrical, emotional, connective, people meeting strangers, sharing space, and feeling something other than scrolling numbness. If more bands had this level of conviction, maybe we’d all be a little less tired. Until then, Adventure Lost is carrying the torch, and they’re not blinking.

We had a chance to sit down with Adventure Lost to talk about "You Better Watch Your Back." Jack Faracchio (lead vox, gtrs) Larry Iaccio (drums, support vox) Tucker Pendleton (bass, support vox) Karena Crutchfield (keys, support vox) Alex DiPasquale (gtrs, support vox) Your song frames the American Healthcare system as a form of violence. At what point did you stop seeing it as a “broken system” and start seeing it as a system working exactly as intended? Even as a kid, I [Jack] couldn’t wrap my head around the concept that when a person was sick or injured in America, it wasn’t as simple as just finding a hospital and getting help. You had to pay. Which, to a child’s mind (or anyone’s), begs the question: “But what if they don’t have enough money?” The adults would shrug and look away, as if it were implicit. I understood then (and still) that any business’s core goal is to take in more money than it puts out, and that this applies to the business of keeping people alive & healthy. It is not a healthcare system – it is a money-making system built on the fragility of health. As somebody [Tucker] who has worked in health, property, and casualty insurance, getting the inside scoop on why premiums actually rise and reading the fine print of insurance policies changed my view on the whole industry. It was my job to understand the policies inside out, and though (fortunately) I was well-trained by my boss to properly explain these complexities to policyholders, that is not often the case. Seeing ads and internet-only insurance companies infuriates me because their whole business model is about selling lower premiums to poorer/vulnerable people without explaining what they’re buying. The result? When it comes time to file a claim, companies screw over policyholders in their moment of need. The very fact that insurance companies generate massive profits at all while life-saving claims are denied speaks for itself. The purpose of a system is what it does.

“You Better Watch Your Back” challenges who we’re taught to fear. Why do you think people are more comfortable blaming each other than confronting corporations profiting off our pain? It’s a natural human tendency to be fearful or suspicious of “the unknown” or “the other”. Corporate media takes full advantage of this; corporations are faceless & formless, yet through their ads & image, they are made familiar, and we’re conditioned in a weird way to see them as a part of our own culture & identity. It’s very easy to convince people that That Guy Over There is a threat because he thinks differently. Fear, suspicion, & division will continue being the message of much of corporate media as long as it is profitable (i.e., as long as we continue surrendering our attention to it). I [Larry] also think there’s this pervasive “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” mentality that still permeates almost every aspect of American culture. The idea that hard work alone is enough to have success (what some might still call the “American Dream”). But MLK said it best: “It is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps”. When people don’t understand their neighbors’ struggles, they often resort to judgment. Too many people fall into a competitive mindset, thinking “the other” is lazy or lesser, when in reality these people share a common struggle against the entities that have created & maintained the conditions of their shared hardships.

However, we’re starting to witness a complete breakdown of that mindset today. People are seeing how the social contract between the government & its people is being broken. The veil of the American Healthcare system is starting to lift, revealing that the true barriers to our health & welfare have always been the corporations and the politicians in their pockets.

You’ve talked about building a real in-person community through your shows. In a world where everyone’s hiding in their phones, how do you convince people to show up and feel something again? By example! Going out, putting our own phones down, and sharing our feelings with people to the fullest extent awakens inspiration & motivation in others, which then ripples outward & onward. The truth is, everyone has to take that first step on their own. But the good news is, everyone already wants to feel something – and Adventure Lost will be waiting for them with open arms (and a bad pun) when they do show up. They might forget what we say, but they’ll never forget the friends they meet, or how that experience made them feel. I [Jack] often find that by expressing the full, wild range of my own silliness, intensity, & imperfection onstage, it seems to draw out the deepest feelings (or at least a smile (or even tears)) out of others. For me, I feel seen & fulfilled, and for others, I think it helps them see that it’s not a big deal to be expressive or “weird.” A generational shift seems to be happening now with how we relate to our phones. Younger people are finding screens more exhausting & less fulfilling, while older generations are falling into traps and believing everything they’re seeing. I [Tucker] think many people just don’t know where to start. Ironically, our phones can sometimes offer that gateway; someone may see reels of our crowds singing & dancing together, laughing with the band, and they may feel that this is somewhere they can belong.

Wealth inequality and preventable suffering can feel overwhelming. When you’re writing protest music, how do you avoid slipping into hopelessness and instead turn anger into action? It is difficult for sure. You just gotta let the feelings out. They can’t be buried or ignored. You must sit with them, listen to what they have to say, and give them control over your voice & instrument. The feelings will find their own way into a melody/beat / lyrics, which now has the potential to connect & spread hope to untold amounts of people. It’s very hard to find room for hopelessness when you feel the impact that a simple piece of music can have. The act of creating is an act of hope in itself; you’re bringing something new into this world to live a life of its own.

And there are a few keys that really help: Avoid prolonged social isolation, stay focused on the things you can control, and feel gratitude for any & all ways in which you are still fortunate and able to help. For those of us who feel privileged in any way, there is a sense of responsibility to speak out, since our cries of protest (whether it be on the streets, online, or in a song) will be among the last to be punished.

There’s a long history of artists being silenced, subtly or not, for calling out powerful institutions. Has anyone tried to push back on your message, and if so, how do you respond without watering down your art? We haven’t encountered much resistance to our message (yet)! I’m sure as we continue reaching more people, that may change, but that would just offer a greater opportunity to start real conversations and force people to think about these topics. To be honest, when we started, we just wanted to write songs about dreams & love & adventure, but the truth is, we write about life, and these issues define the realities of our current lives.

Politics has become more personal, and it feels harder to sustain relationships between people with irreconcilable beliefs these days. If someone feel personally attacked by these songs that criticize systemic failures, then that’s their right to feel that way. We’ll keep singing it anyway. But honestly, we’ve been more overwhelmed with the support for our message! With how intensely these songs have resonated with people, seeing how forcefully they sing the lyrics back at us onstage. There’s a sense that these songs belong to everyone, and they sing along in one voice, like a rallying cry. So in that way, you wouldn’t just be pushing back on us, but this whole group of people. There’s empowerment in that for sure. I gotta be honest, if someone tried to push back/silence one of our songs, then we’d prob just write a song about that.