Rocenrol!

The mosh pit churns counterclockwise, all thrashing elbows and knees, a swarming, broken polka from hell. Ska’s syncopated chaos wails and burps in trombones and snare hits from the stage, while below blur strobe-light moments of angry, wet teeth and tongue studs. Everyone snarls in Spanish, fists raised.

This isn’t Santiago, Chile. It’s not Mexico City; Madrid; Bogota, Colombia; or Buenos Aires--or any of the other predictable nests for the Spanish-language rock movement. Rather, it’s a typical Sunday night at a bland Anaheim mini-mall, with local kids moshing at club JC Fandango to the sounds of Chencha Berenches, an unsigned band from South Gate.

As many Southern Californians already know, rock en espanol, or Spanish-language rock, has been gaining momentum across Latin America since the early 1980s, when bands such as Soda Stereo, Caifanes, Fabulosos Cadillacs and Maldita Vecindad emerged in Mexico and Argentina.

But many may not realize that modern Latin rock now dangles over the “mainstream” U.S. pop scene, eager--and maybe able--to drop with atomic force.

In the next month, Spanish-language rock will take several steps toward mainstream U.S. acceptance, with Los Angeles leading the way as the nation’s unofficial center of the international scene known to followers as “the movement.”

It all starts today with the kickoff of the 18-city alternative Latin rock festival Watcha Tour 2000, at the Universal Amphitheatre.

In its second year, Watcha is the Spanish-language version of the skate-culture-oriented Vans Warped tour, which was inspired by Lollapalooza. Watcha was founded by Warped tour producer Kevin Lyman, Warped co-founder and Creative Artists Agency agent Darryl Eaton and Jorge Mondragon, manager of the Mexican group Molotov.

Watcha financially tanked last year, which its producers ascribe to publicity and tour routing issues. They say they’ve taken steps to avoid a repeat this year, adding seven more cities to the tour and starting in Los Angeles--a hotbed for the music. But it still seems a leap of faith considering Watcha sold only between 11% and 66% of its tickets at venues from Miami to Los Angeles last year, with its highest-grossing show, the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, making only $125,000, according to Pollstar.

Another big step for the movement comes next week, when the Latin Alternative Music Conference begins in New York. It’s the nation’s first large-scale music industry gathering focused exclusively on Latin rock, culminating in the Banda Elastica awards, named for the Long Beach-based Latin rock magazine.

Conference co-founder Tomas Cookman, owner of North Hollywood’s Cookman International artist management firm, said he preferred New York for the conference “because I don’t want to see L.A. become the Nashville of the Latin alternative movement.”

English-Spanish Tour Pairings

While some in the mainstream industry say their interest in rock en espanol was piqued by Ricky Martin’s smash English-language debut, the comparison is musically and ideologically shaky, because most Latin rock acts refuse to consider singing in English.

“We think the U.S. is an important market,” says Felipe Staiti, guitarist with the Argentine band Enanitos Verdes, featured on Watcha 2000. “But we also think there are enough Latinos in the U.S. for us not to have to record in English.”

Signs of Latin rock’s U.S. potential have already emerged in the past year, in the pairing of Spanish- and English-language rock acts on tours--Cafe Tacuba with Beck, Ozomatli with the Dave Matthews Band, Mana with Santana, Fabulosos Cadillacs with Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Molotov with Deftones, and Puya at Ozzfest.

The tour pairings come in part from stepped-up interest in Latin rock artists by top Los Angeles talent agencies, including Creative Artists Agency, which now represents groups such as Mana, La Ley, Ozomatli, the Chris Perez Band and Molotov.

Meanwhile, back at the mosh pit, all of this makes fans like Arni Toriz, 18, smile. “I’ve been waiting for this since I got here [from Mexico] six years ago,” says Toriz, a college student with inventive sideburns. “It could happen, you know? I hope [the bands] get the attention they deserve. I hope so.”

Latin ‘Alt’ Music, a Diverse Umbrella

Rock en espanol and Latin rock--or the new preferred title, “Latin alternative music”--are vague terms used to describe everything from the techno-pop of Chile’s La Ley and the thrash metal of Puerto Rico’s Puya to the heavy funk of Argentina’s Illya Kuryaki. It includes the tropical grunge of Colombia’s Aterciopelados, the poppish poetry of Colombia’s Shakira, the ska madness of France’s Sergent Garcia, the meat-and-potatoes rock ‘n’ roll of Texas’ Chris Perez Band, the quirky art-rock of Miami’s Fulano de Tal and the Spanish-language rap album from L.A.’s Cypress Hill.

In the U.S., Latin rock is most popular in the West, where more people of Mexican extraction live. Large pockets of Latinos exist in other parts of the mainland U.S., but most have roots in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where rock is less popular. In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, however, Latin rock is gaining ground, thanks to home-grown acts such as Robi Draco Rosa, Puya and Fiel a La Vega.

In Latin America, Spanish-language rock is strongest in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Argentina, though not limited to those places.

Some, but not all, Spanish-language rock uses elements of more traditional Latin genres, such as cumbia, son and mariachi. In its early days, Latin American rock seemed more political than its U.S. counterpart, but most say that’s not the case anymore. These days, the only real difference between rock en espanol and rock en ingles appears to be language.

While many early rock en espanol bands were criticized in the U.S. for sounding like cheap imitations of Anglo-rock bands such as the Police and the Cure, that has changed dramatically in recent years with the emergence of creative powerhouses such as Cafe Tacuba, Aterciopelados, Bloque, Ozomatli and Fito Paez.

Tentative mainstream U.S. music industry interest in Latin rock--visible in a new Grammy category for best Latin/alternative performance--has grown in response to impressive sales of pop-leaning artists such as Mana and Shakira here. And the inaugural Latin Grammys, slated for a prime-time CBS broadcast Sept. 13, will present awards in five rock categories.

Mana was L.A.’s top concert ticket-seller for 1998--in English or Spanish--and has sold more than 1 million albums in the U.S. without recording in English, according to SoundScan.

Shakira recently appeared at No. 50 on Pollstar’s midyear roundup for her U.S. tour, with $2.7 million earned.

Many in the movement see the crossover potential of Latin rock as far greater than that of any other Latin genre, because of its familiar sounds, style and sentiment.

The similarities have already led to collaborations between English- and Spanish-language rock artists. Grammy-winning producer Phil Ramone produced Argentine rocker Fito Paez’s latest album, “Abre.” Beck’s drummer appears on the new album by Tijuana rocker Julieta Venegas. And David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label is home to Colombia’s Bloque, Venezuela’s Los Amigos Invisibles and King Chango.

Rock en Espanol Trails Traditional Latin Genres

Even with all of the appeal Latin rock holds, the stark fact remains: Rock en espanol sales in the U.S. remain anemic, especially when compared to traditional Latin genres such as norteno and merengue.

Though legions of publicists now herald the “next Latin explosion” in rock, most in the movement realize it will only happen if the industry here views the music differently.

Even the most enthusiastic supporter of the Latin rock movement in the U.S. will admit Mana and Shakira are exceptions to the dismal-sales rule.

While the Recording Industry Assn. of America has certified several Mana albums multiplatinum (platinum indicates shipments of 1 million copies), and has certified two Shakira albums platinum, no other Latin rock artists have reached that level.

By comparison, dozens of traditional Mexican music acts reach platinum in the U.S. When the RIAA announced the creation of a new ceremony for Spanish-language gold and platinum awards in the U.S., not a single rock act was invited.

There are two reasons for low Latin rock sales here: a lack of awareness among traditional-minded Latin music executives in the U.S., and a lack of support from the English-language-side executives who understand rock, but don’t understand Spanish.

The difficulties are amplified when it comes to radio.

While Spanish-language radio stations have surged across the United States in recent years--with the top-rated stations in Los Angeles and New York now in Spanish--few of these stations play rock en espanol.

Notable exceptions are the Orange County/Los Angeles Latin pop and rock stations KSSE-FM (97.5) and KLVE-FM (107.5). But even these stick to more pop-oriented acts, such as Nek, Mana and Shakira.

In Southern California, the word on edgier bands gets out through television shows such as “Illegal Interns,” magazines such as P.U.B. and Banda Elastica, nightclubs such as JC Fandango, the Internet and word of mouth.

Elsewhere, word hardly gets out at all. MTV won’t touch Latin rock, other than to occasionally include Puya on its metal show. While MTV Latin America reaches homes across much of the rest of the hemisphere, the only video outlets for rock en espanol in the U.S. are MTV2 and MTVS, available only via satellite dish.

Many in the movement have had their hopes pinned to the possibility of Los Angeles alternative rock leader KROQ-FM picking up the Latin rock show “The Red Zone,” produced by Cookman, Josh Kun and Chelina Vargas, and now heard on Latin pop station, KLYY-FM. If that happened, they’ve reasoned, then the rest of the nation would follow.

But the show probably won’t be picked up by the station, according to KROQ’s director of programming, Kevin Wetherly, who says he fears such a show would “alienate 70 percent of our listeners.”

This kind of fear frustrates Cookman, who says he finds the same fear in the Latin labels and radio stations.

“It’s a monster market out there,” Cookman says. “But what we need are people on the Latin side who know how they broke Blink-182 in Cleveland, not how they broke Los Tri-O in Miami.”

Maribel Schumacher, vice president of Warner Music Latin America, echoes Cookman’s concerns, adding, “We also need people on the English side who understand we’re not a bunch of cucarachas playing mariachi.”

Watcha’s co-founder Eaton says he believes language is irrelevant with alternative rock. “Musically, spiritually, ideologically, they [aren’t] that different,” he says.

And that, in a nutshell, is how most in the movement say they see things these days: One music, one planet, many languages.

“Music is universal,” says Enanitos Verde’s Staiti. “Rock might have belonged to the U.S. back in the time of Elvis, but not anymore. It’s the world’s music.”

But the question remains: Will the U.S. music industry agree?

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* Watcha Tour 2000 with Aterciopelados, Ozomatli, Cafe Tacuba, Molotov, Enanitos Verdes, A.N.I.M.A.L., Resorte and Riesgo de Contagio, tonight at the Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 6:15 p.m. $25.50 to $55.50. (818) 622-4440. Also Saturday at Coors Amphitheatre, 2050 Otay Valley Road, Chula Vista, 6:30 p.m. $17.50 to $35.50. (619) 671-3600.