Some of the experienced musicians in the band Sharky compare their performances to groups of guys that get together to play poker on Friday night. Few friendly poker games however, have been performed in front of 100,000 people.

"Never been serious about making anything of it," said Paul Dennis, 45, a Boston computer consultant that plays Lead Guitar in Sharky, "just like being with a bunch of guys." and that performance with the huge crowd at New Hampshire International Speedway? "Once in a lifetime," Dennis said. "That'll never happen again."

Singer Steve Gardner first worked with Dennis around 1980, but quit music for a while. His comeback was forced. "I had quit, and didn't do music for eight or nine years, and then my wife said to me, 'You don't do anything. Get in a band'," Gardner recalled.

Now the three-year-old Sharky has gigs that range from Antonio's in Taunton to "Booze Cruises" in Boston Harbor to the Brockton Fair to the famed racetrack performance. Drummer Dave Mall of Bridgewater, who founded Sharky about three years ago, said the band's nine shows in July may have been a bit much. "It's fun, the way we approach it," said Mall, a 45 year-old loss prevention analyst. "It's not rock star stuff. It's literally just for fun."

The band's laid-back attitude toward the music doesn't come out in the music itself. The band puts a hard-driving sound behind danceable classic rock and Motown songs such as "Superstition." Jimmy Peters, 45, of Taunton plays his Les Paul as the bands Rhythm Guitarist. "We're having a lot of fun performing," Peters said. "I enjoy watching people have fun on the dance floor." Peters plays a throbbing opening to the band's cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." Dennis' guitar adds clarity as the rest of the band joins behind Gardner's vocals. At some point, the band realized it needed to come back harder on one verse.

Music keeps bringing back Guy Martin, a 39 year-old Braintree commercial plumber who joined the band after original Sharky bassist Mike White retired. "I've been playing since I was in fourth grade," Martin said. Ever quit? "For a woman, and then I sharpened up." The band's repertoire in a Bridgewater rehearsal included "Stuck In The Middle With You," Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," The Church's "Under The Milky Way," Bad Company's "Movin' On," and the Black Crowes "Jealous Again."

Gardner won't apologize for the band's deep roots. When he was looking for a band, he said, he found plenty filled with 25 year-old musicians. "I could keep up with them, but I didn't want to sing 25-year-olds' music," he said. "I wanted to sing good music."