diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index ee6cdce3c2..8b9dea59dc 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.6.1
+0.6.1a
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 9bfa09edfd..4d5d70d265 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -16,4 +16,4 @@
 """ This is a reference implementation of a Matrix home server.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.6.1"
+__version__ = "0.6.1a"
diff --git a/synapse/http/client.py b/synapse/http/client.py
index e5d4939e2d..7793bab106 100644
--- a/synapse/http/client.py
+++ b/synapse/http/client.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class SimpleHttpClient(object):
             uri.encode("ascii"),
             headers=Headers({
                 b"Content-Type": [b"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"],
-                b"User-Agent": AGENT_NAME,
+                b"User-Agent": [AGENT_NAME],
             }),
             bodyProducer=FileBodyProducer(StringIO(query_bytes))
         )
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class SimpleHttpClient(object):
             "GET",
             uri.encode("ascii"),
             headers=Headers({
-                b"User-Agent": AGENT_NAME,
+                b"User-Agent": [AGENT_NAME],
             })
         )
 
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class CaptchaServerHttpClient(SimpleHttpClient):
             bodyProducer=FileBodyProducer(StringIO(query_bytes)),
             headers=Headers({
                 b"Content-Type": [b"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"],
-                b"User-Agent": AGENT_NAME,
+                b"User-Agent": [AGENT_NAME],
             })
         )