Arizona Bay
Having already recorded two albums live on stage, Hicks developed a more complex plan for ARIZONA BAY.  He composed music for the program, painting a sonic portrait of life on the beach after the "big one" dropped California into the Pacific Ocean. He constructed the album with alternating bits of music and comedy, so that while the comedy bits could be taken on their own, the tension the music provided was subversively adding up to a much greater undercurrent of unease.  Bill wrote the following note about ARIZONA BAY shortly after finishing its rough edit and mix in the spring of 1993:"By the way, as far as I know this [mixing-in of music] has never been done before with a comedy album.  (I hope there's not a reason for that!)  The important thing to remember is that this idea for ARIZONA BAY extends beyond just this album.  It is a philosophy about not wanting or having to go through the mainstream to have your work mangled and made mediocre.  I believe there is a great deal of anti-LA (and all that LA stands for) out there.  I believe people would proudly wear "Arizona Bay" t-shirts and this whole idea could help bring into focus people's antipathy for mainstream America, while also being a concept for those people to rally around."