It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll, but that’s just where Kyle Fardell is headed.

Just six months ago, the 20-year-old local guitarist could only dream of one day making a living through his music, but today he is part of up and coming hard rock band, The Witching Hour, who have just finished a tour of the east coast.

And Kyle has also now signed on with legendary Australian manager Michael Browning — the man who brought AC/DC and INXS to the world’s attention.

“It’s crazy! It is all a spin out for me,” said Kyle, who had never played a gig outside of Orange, before embarking on the recent tour to Melbourne, Brisbane and towns in between.

 “The tour was crazy, because I'd never done a tour, or even played anywhere outside of Orange before that! So, I got to see Melbourne for the first time and Brisbane as well. We had a gig in Newcastle a couple of months ago and that was pretty rowdy, but Brisbane was a highlight just because of the other bands that were playing,” said Kyle.

Growing up in Orange, music was always a part of Kyle’s life. In primary school he joined the choir and later eagerly picked up a guitar.

While it was country music that Kyle remembers from his early years, it was rock that really got his attention

“I got shown rock music when I was about 12 and once I figured out you could do that on a guitar I was like, ‘that's what I want to do!’” said Kyle, who lists Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and Jimmy Hendrix among his guitar idols.

Kyle’s path to joining The Witching Hour actually began six years ago at a music camp in Sydney.

“I was about 14 and I met a dude who was a drummer there, we just became friends and stayed in contact on Facebook and that. I would go up and jam with him every now and then, and I followed this band that he'd started, then their guitarist left and he hit me up!”

Kyle auditioned for the rest of the band members in June last year, but it didn’t go quite as he’d hoped.

“There were so many things I thought went wrong and the first thing I said when I walked out was, ‘I don't think I'll be hearing from them anytime soon’,” he said. “But then they called me and said you're in!”

With the tour complete, Kyle said the band are just getting ready to release their next single and preparing to tour again in February.

“We are definitely going to keep riding the tour wagon and keep playing as many gigs as we can, get as many new followers as we can and build that up,” said Kyle.

“And eventually I think we'd like to take it overseas and see how we go in an international market — you never know unless you try! I just want to keep playing music, making more songs, trying to get new fans, play places we've never been to and see the world!”

You can find The Witching Hour on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.