The Watcha tour — the Warped tour's Latin cousin — has gotten off to a bumpy start. But organizers say the attempt to bring a wide variety of Latin music to U.S. audiences is gaining momentum as it moves across the South on its way to California.

Mexican rap-metal stars Molotov, eclectic Mexican rock band Cafe Tacuba, Puerto Rican hard-rock band Puya and others are traveling in a fleet of rented buses with such U.S. counterparts as Los Mocosos, a groove-ska outfit from the barrios of San Francisco, and the Chris Perez Band from Corpus Christi, Texas, fronted by the widower of the late Tejano singer Selena.

The tour is going to "show all the people in all these different places ... how many different kinds of Latin music there are," Piero "El Malo" Ornelas of Los Mocosos said.

But missing from the caravan are rappers Cypress Hill, who dropped off both Warped and Watcha to work on an album, and the swing band Royal Crown Revue. Although the latter were in the originally announced lineup, they were never confirmed for the full tour, according to their publicist. They had hoped to perform five dates but only could do one in Los Angeles.

Promoters said they had to cancel a show in Atlanta and relocate shows in Miami and Pompano Beach, Fla., last week to smaller venues because of slow ticket sales. But they said they're happy with sales in Los Angeles, where half the 6,000 available tickets for the festival's closing show, Aug. 15 at the Greek Theatre, have been sold.

"Rock en Español is still developing," tour spokesperson John Reilly said. "The first year of the Warped tour was in small clubs with 200 people, but now it's in venues with 10,000 seats. ... We know in its first year, [Watcha is] going to be a small thing, to educate people. In two years, it could be playing arenas."

Reilly also said the Rock en Español movement has its biggest fanbase in California, so the shows there should be more successful.

The Watcha tour was founded by Warped producer Kevin Lyman and Molotov manager Jorge Mondragón. It aims to capitalize on the popularity of such Latin stars as pop singers Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez. Organizers and artists on the tour say they want to introduce more diverse Latin sounds into the U.S. mainstream.

"When you use the word 'Latin music,' you're using this dynamite time-bomb of a word, because Latino is a culture, not a color," said Ornelas, whose band recently released a Latino anthem called "Brown and Proud" (RealAudio excerpt).

"If you like hardcore, there's gonna be a band there that does hardcore, like Puya," he said. "If you like straight-ahead mambo salsa, there's gonna be a couple bands there who do sh-- like that. If you like ... new acid-jazz-retro-disco-funk, there's gonna be bands there like Molotov, doing sh-- like that."

The tour had its seeds in the Warped tour, an annual punk-rock excursion that this summer included such punkers as Blink-182 and Suicidal Tendencies along with rappers Eminem and Ice-T.

The idea was born when Molotov — who played on the Warped tour, too, and whose 1997 album, ¿Dónde Jugarán las Niñas? (Where Will the Girls Play?), featured "Voto Latino" (RealAudio excerpt) — Mondragón and Lyman got to discussing the need for a festival showcasing Latin rockers.

While Watcha, which kicked off in Pompano Beach on Aug. 1, the day after Warped ended in the same city, is billed as a Rock en Español festival, it offers a varied lineup.

Cafe Tacuba, who have garnered critical acclaim for their recently released double album, Reves/ Yo Soy (Backwards/ I Am), are an avant-garde rock quartet. The Watcha tour is their first extended U.S. tour.

It's the first tour, period, for the Chris Perez Band. In addition to being married to Selena, the Tejano pop superstar, Perez was her guitarist. Selena was murdered in 1995 by the president of her fan club.

While most of the bands are little-known in the U.S. mainstream, many are stars in their home countries. Todos Tus Muertos' debut album went platinum in Argentina. Molotov's ¿Dónde Jugarán las Niñas? has sold more than 400,000 copies in Mexico.

As to the connection with the punk-oriented Warped tour, Los Mocosos bassist Happy Sanchez said, "When I first went and saw my first Rock en Español show, it really reminded me a lot of punk rock.

"It's something that's happening that not a lot of people know about," he continued. "It's like a bunch of Latin kids stage diving off the f---ing stage, and just doing this intense sh--, like who would have known? And that was five years ago. I think that the Vans Warped tour people, basically, that's the punk-rock festival and the skateboard-ska kind of thing; these are the perfect people to deal with it."

Remaining Watcha Tour Dates:

Aug. 6; Dallas, Texas; Bronco Bowl

Aug. 7; South Padre Island, Texas; Charlie's

Aug. 8; Houston, Texas; Woodlands Pavilion

Aug. 10; El Paso, Texas; UTEP

Aug. 12; Phoenix, Ariz.; Celebrity Theatre

Aug. 13; Chula Vista, Calif.; Coors Amphitheatre

Aug. 14; San Jose, Calif.; Santa Clara County Fairgrounds

Aug. 15; Los Angeles, Calif.; Greek Theatre